The Ashes of Vows (Elara and Damon) novel Chapter 4

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My voice, hoarse and trembling, finally broke through. “Damon, can’t you even see what a mess I am?”

I lifted my arm. It was a mess, covered in angry red welts, no normal skin in sight. The deep, bloody gashes were just gruesome.

Damon paused for a second, but his voice was still hard.“Sloane hasn’t rested all day. That bracelet has to be ready tonight!”

“And what if I

say

no?”

My eyes burned, but I had no more tears left to cry.“Are you going to lock me back in that solitary room and let those poisonous bugs finish me off?!”

Damon couldn’t quite meet my gaze, seeing me hold back tears. He just closed his eyes, a helpless, frustrated gesture.

“Elle, just bear with it. Once Sloane’s fully recovered, once I’ve repaid her for saving my life, we can go back to how things were.”

He said it like a promise, then laid several thorn branches, thick as my fingers, on the bedside table. His tone was calm again.“Remember, if you don’t do it, the bodyguards will ‘help‘ you. They say a bracelet made from these thorns works best when it’s stained with human blood.”

The guest room door slammed shut.

A couple of bodyguards stood dutifully by the bed.“Ma’am, don’t waste any more time,” one of them said.“Mr. Damon said you need to A couple of bodyguards stood dutifully by the bed.“Ma’am, don’t waste a pull out every single thorn from those branches with your fingers, and each bead has to be personally polished with sandpaper.”

That night, I was dragged out of bed by the bodyguards. I didn’t close my eyes for a second.

My fingers were riddled with tiny punctures, and under the brutal friction of the sandpaper, they turned into raw, open gashes. Every tal friction of the sandpaper, they turned into raw, open gashes. Every movement sent searing pain through them.

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, Sloane’s satisfied chuckle drifted from the master bedroom.“Damon,” she purred, “this bracelet really works! The dizziness is gone the moment

put it on.”

I

Damon responded softly, “That’s good. Go on, get some rest, I’ll stay with you.”

I slowly curled myself into a ball in the corner of the bed, clutching my bloodied, injured fingers, watching the drops of blood stain the sheets. My eyes burned, a bitter, ironic laugh bubbling up inside me,

Back in the day, if I pricked my finger on a rose thorn and just a drop of blood surfaced, Damon would be wracked with guilt and worry for hours. Now, he could actually take a bracelet, stained red with my blood, and use it to make another woman happy.

Damon, Damon… and you actually still say we’ll go back to how things were?

No way it could ever be.

My love for you? It’s completely gone.

The next day, Sloane had a fantastic night’s sleep, all thanks to that bracelet. Feeling great, she pulled Damon out for a stroll.

I only found out they’d gone to Greece to watch the sunset from her online updates.

The photo showed Santorini’s iconic white walls. Sloane’s hand was clasped tightly by a man’s long, slender fingers. The caption read:“Ten years of loving you, and finally, my wish came true…”

I stared at the picture. My heart felt hollow, like wind blowing through an empty space, but surprisingly, I didn’t feel any pain anymore.

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I silently slipped off the ring from my finger. Then I went to the garden, ripped out every single hydrangea from the flowerbed, shredded them one by one, and tossed them into the trash.

Once that was done, I opened my laptop and logged into the account that was constantly getting trashed. I scheduled a post for a month from now, writing:“By the time this message goes live, I’ll likely be gone…”

I wrote that ‘final note‘ for a very, very long time. The moment I hit the final period, I suddenly heard a car pull up in the driveway. Damon rushed into the villa, his footsteps hurried.

“Why did you destroy those hydrangeas, Elle? You loved them!

I planted those for you myself, all those years ago.”

For some reason, his face was pale, and there was a hint of blood seeping through his sleeve.

I gave him a calm glance, didn’t ask anything, and just snapped my laptop shut with a ‘thwack‘.“The roots are all rotten,” I said.“Time to plant something else.”

When I seemed to still have a plan for the future, Damon finally pushed down his unease.“Okay,” he said, “I’ll plant whatever you want for you then.”

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