Chapter 3

Iris's POV

I bite down on my lip until it splits open, blood filling my mouth. I don't beg anymore. I don't argue anymore.

And I finally understand. The boy who used to shake in my arms on full moon nights is gone. The thing standing in front of me now is just a rabid dog.

I look down at my ruined leg, and something in my eyes goes from pain to dead calm.

I stop fighting. I just lie there in the mud and let him stomp on me.

My silence seems to throw Knox off, makes him restless. His eyes land on my phone, lying in the mud where it fell.

He glances at the screen. The wallpaper is still a photo of him, the one I set a long time ago.

Knox snorts and crushes it under his heel.

"Quit looking at me like you've already given up." He turns away. "This is what you owe her."

My right leg is done. Useless.

I don't even know how I crawl back to the estate in the rain.

My nails are torn and bleeding from dragging myself across the asphalt. Behind me, the rain washes my blood into a broken trail on the pavement.

The estate is still lit up.

I use what's left of my strength to push the door open. It's only half-shut.

Inside, classical music is playing low. My brother, Julian, sits at his easel with a paintbrush in hand.

Across from him, on the velvet couch, Daphne sits in a brand-new white dress, posing like she's made of porcelain.

"You made me look way too pretty. I don't look anything like this." Daphne giggles, her voice sickly sweet.

"To me, you're a work of art. Always have been." Julian's voice is warm, doting.

He looks up, and that face of his could've been carved by God himself. Sharp features, deep-set eyes, a jawline like it was chiseled out of marble.

But nobody here would ever guess that face used to be burned beyond recognition.

There was a fire at the estate, years ago. Julian got hit by a falling beam trying to pull me out, and ended up covered in burns, his face burned beyond recognition.

For years after that, he locked himself in a dark room, smashed every mirror in the house, and screamed like some kind of monster.

It was me. I went back to the altar again.

I gave up my last thirty years.

By then, I'd burned through eighty years of a normal lifespan, leaving behind a body that could give out at any moment.

I traded my life so his skin could heal, so he could have the face he has now, the one everyone can't stop staring at.

Blood drips off me, hitting the floor with a soft, wet sound.

Julian's paintbrush freezes mid-stroke. He turns around and sees me on the floor by the door.

There's nothing on that perfect face but disgust.

He frowns and actually covers his nose. "Iris? What now? You reek of blood. You're ruining the floor."

"Oh my god, is that blood? I can't look at it!" Daphne lets out a shriek and throws herself into Julian's arms. "I'm so scared of blood... why would she do this to me?"

Julian drops the brush immediately and pulls her close, rubbing her back. "It's okay. I'm here."

Then he turns back to me, and his eyes go cold. "Iris, how long are you going to keep this up? Damian and Knox already taught you a lesson, and you still haven't learned anything? You came back here looking like this just to scare her?"

I lie there on the floor, looking at the man who used to throw himself in front of me to protect me.

To him, this is just some stunt I pulled to mess with her.

"Julian..." My voice comes out raspy, like it's scraping over gravel. "It hurts so much..."

"Shut up. I'm not your brother." Julian cuts me off, voice sharp. He gets up and walks over to me.

He picks up a carving knife from the sculpture stand beside him.

"You've got her bone structure. Almost the same face. Too bad you've got such an ugly heart underneath it. You don't deserve to look anything like her."

My eyes go wide. I can't believe what I'm hearing.

He crouches down, grabs my chin, forces my head up. The cold blade presses against my cheek.

"You like scaring people with blood so much? Fine. Let me help you out."

"No..." I try to fight him off, but my body's too broken to move against a grown man.

The blade cuts into skin, the sound sharp in the quiet room. Julian doesn't hold back. He drags the knife down my cheek, all the way to the jaw, deep enough to hit bone.

The pain rips through me, and my whole body convulses. Hot blood pours out, filling my eye. Everything goes red.

"Julian, stop, that's so cruel..." Daphne covers her face from behind him, putting on a show of horror, but through her fingers, I catch the glint of satisfaction in her eyes.

Julian tosses the bloody knife on the floor.

He pulls out a handkerchief, wipes my blood off his fingers like it's something filthy, and throws it onto my face.

"Scare her again, and I'll skin you myself."

I lie there in a pool of my own blood, staring up at the chandelier through the blood-soaked handkerchief.

And somehow, all the pain just... stops. Goes numb.