Immortal Darkness (Phantom Diaries #3) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Kailin Gow
without a single word to me.”
I cast my gaze to the floor, ashamed of my behavior, but loathed to be reminded once again how ineptly I’d acted.
“Please, this isn’t an attack on your character, but my need to let you know about mine. I’m a bit more worldly than you. I’ve been around a time or two. I’ve known women who are calculating, manipulative, and cunning. They can take a man’s heart and trample it with their elegant heels, all while keeping their immaculately manicured claws firmly around his wallet. I know how to keep my heart under wraps, keep it safe. I’ve travelled the world and have seen it all… but you. Nothing in my life prepared me for you, for how I would come to feel about you. You can’t begin to imagine what it was for me when I found Rupert’s ring on my dresser.”
He held my gaze with an intensity that shook me.
“In my heart… in my gut, I knew right away what it meant, but I didn’t want to believe it. And when Mother told me you’d left, I didn’t want to believe that either. I searched everywhere for you, desperate to find you and prove my mother wrong. I wanted to believe you’d gone off to roam the grounds, after all, a marriage proposal was a lot to think about. My search for you led me to the very place Kristine had plotted to have Rupert killed.”
“Aaron,” I said softly, hurting for all the pain I’d caused him. “You don’t have to tell me all this. I know I was wrong and…”
“No, I need to tell you this. I stood there, in that very deadly spot and looked out over the Aragon property, very much as Rupert must have done that day. I stood there, Annette, and saw it all. I saw just how vile and ugly a woman’s heart could be. I saw Kristine’s love for Eric and her desire to get Rupert out of the way; to take only what she wanted from him, and to take his life in order to attain it.” He swallowed the ball of pain that’d accumulated in his throat and looked thoughtfully at me. “Throughout all that, I saw Rupert’s love for Kristine. Undying, unending, undeniable. She needn’t have plotted to kill him for he would have gladly died for her, so deep was the love he had for her. For all the pain, for the constant betrayal, he still loved her and still wanted her. Had she come to him to ask for his forgiveness, he would not have hesitated… anything to get her back… anything to have her in his life.”
He pulled me into his arms, but refrained from pulling me too close. “I understand the love Rupert had for Kristine. I understand that intensity, that depth of emotion. It’s the same love and devotion I have for you. It’s irrational, more so when you realize how rational a man I am. I’ve tried to fight it, but I can’t help how I feel. I can’t help what I feel for you. While you might see a man of the world, an Aragon, the owner of the Opera House, but the simple truth is that I’m just a man… a man who is in love with you.”
“Aaron,” I whispered, touched by all he’d said. Cupping his cheek in my hand, I wished I had the ability to sooth all his pain, but knew there was little I could do.
He pressed his cheek heavily into my hand and closed his eyes.
“All right,” I murmured. He’d done so much for me, had been there every time I’d felt blue or insecure or inadequate. “I won’t let you down, Aaron. From the very first moment I met you, you’ve been there for me. I want you to know you can count on me as well.”
Turning his lips into my palm, he kissed me, then pulled me into his arms. “Good,” he whispered into my hair, his voice filled with relief, with restrained joy. Bringing his lips to my temple, he muttered words of hope for our future, of time and space that would allow our love to grow, of the blessing of my part in his life.
It all sounded so perfect, so promising.
As he brought his lips to my cheeks and slowly kissed his way to my lips, my own longing and desire for him
I cast my gaze to the floor, ashamed of my behavior, but loathed to be reminded once again how ineptly I’d acted.
“Please, this isn’t an attack on your character, but my need to let you know about mine. I’m a bit more worldly than you. I’ve been around a time or two. I’ve known women who are calculating, manipulative, and cunning. They can take a man’s heart and trample it with their elegant heels, all while keeping their immaculately manicured claws firmly around his wallet. I know how to keep my heart under wraps, keep it safe. I’ve travelled the world and have seen it all… but you. Nothing in my life prepared me for you, for how I would come to feel about you. You can’t begin to imagine what it was for me when I found Rupert’s ring on my dresser.”
He held my gaze with an intensity that shook me.
“In my heart… in my gut, I knew right away what it meant, but I didn’t want to believe it. And when Mother told me you’d left, I didn’t want to believe that either. I searched everywhere for you, desperate to find you and prove my mother wrong. I wanted to believe you’d gone off to roam the grounds, after all, a marriage proposal was a lot to think about. My search for you led me to the very place Kristine had plotted to have Rupert killed.”
“Aaron,” I said softly, hurting for all the pain I’d caused him. “You don’t have to tell me all this. I know I was wrong and…”
“No, I need to tell you this. I stood there, in that very deadly spot and looked out over the Aragon property, very much as Rupert must have done that day. I stood there, Annette, and saw it all. I saw just how vile and ugly a woman’s heart could be. I saw Kristine’s love for Eric and her desire to get Rupert out of the way; to take only what she wanted from him, and to take his life in order to attain it.” He swallowed the ball of pain that’d accumulated in his throat and looked thoughtfully at me. “Throughout all that, I saw Rupert’s love for Kristine. Undying, unending, undeniable. She needn’t have plotted to kill him for he would have gladly died for her, so deep was the love he had for her. For all the pain, for the constant betrayal, he still loved her and still wanted her. Had she come to him to ask for his forgiveness, he would not have hesitated… anything to get her back… anything to have her in his life.”
He pulled me into his arms, but refrained from pulling me too close. “I understand the love Rupert had for Kristine. I understand that intensity, that depth of emotion. It’s the same love and devotion I have for you. It’s irrational, more so when you realize how rational a man I am. I’ve tried to fight it, but I can’t help how I feel. I can’t help what I feel for you. While you might see a man of the world, an Aragon, the owner of the Opera House, but the simple truth is that I’m just a man… a man who is in love with you.”
“Aaron,” I whispered, touched by all he’d said. Cupping his cheek in my hand, I wished I had the ability to sooth all his pain, but knew there was little I could do.
He pressed his cheek heavily into my hand and closed his eyes.
“All right,” I murmured. He’d done so much for me, had been there every time I’d felt blue or insecure or inadequate. “I won’t let you down, Aaron. From the very first moment I met you, you’ve been there for me. I want you to know you can count on me as well.”
Turning his lips into my palm, he kissed me, then pulled me into his arms. “Good,” he whispered into my hair, his voice filled with relief, with restrained joy. Bringing his lips to my temple, he muttered words of hope for our future, of time and space that would allow our love to grow, of the blessing of my part in his life.
It all sounded so perfect, so promising.
As he brought his lips to my cheeks and slowly kissed his way to my lips, my own longing and desire for him