Chapter 129: Punishments
ADRIAN’S P.O.V.
I leaned back in my chair, the soft crackle of the fireplace filling the silence. My gaze lingered on Juliette, whose brown eyes were filled with an intensity I couldn’t ignore. Teresa sat with her arms crossed, her expression a mixture of defiance and curiosity. Leonard, of course, lounged like he didn’t have a care in the world, while Lucian’s eyes were turned in my direction, his head tilted as though listening for a hidden truth in my voice.
"How did I come back from that?" I repeated Juliette’s question, my voice calm and deliberate, though the memories stirred a storm inside me. "The truth is, I didn’t. Not really."
The room seemed to lean in closer. Even Leonard, for all his antics, was quiet.
"After Margaret..." I hesitated, the image of her drenched in her family’s blood haunting me for a moment. "After what she did, she hated me. She hated herself more, but her anger—her fury—it was directed at me. For centuries, she chased me away. Fought me, cursed me, blamed me for everything. And I..." I smiled faintly, though there was no humor in it. "I stayed. No matter how much she pushed me away, I refused to leave her side."
"Why would you do that?" Teresa asked sharply, her voice trembling with remnant of anger and other emotions. "She didn’t want you there, Adrian. You should’ve let her be."
"Perhaps," I admitted, my gaze fixed on the flames. "But guilt has a way of binding you to someone. I couldn’t leave her—not after what I had done. I owed her that much. And I loved her."
Lucian let out a low, disbelieving chuckle. "Love? That doesn’t sound like love to me, Daegon. That sounds like punishment."
"Maybe it was both," I said softly.
Juliette’s hand tightened on my arm, grounding me. "How bad did it get between you two?"
"Bad enough," I admitted. "We couldn’t leave physical scars on each other, not as vampires, but the ones we left on each other’s hearts... those were deep. There were moments when I thought I might finally break under the weight of it all, especially when she sought revenge against my parents."