Lips Red As Blood

43 |

Leticia? 

Cora's movements go jerky, as her happiness snaps into surprise. Is Asher talking about Lettuce Leticia, the very one he always avoided talking about? The one who was his greatest nightmare? 

Is she also the one who Asher loves? a tiny voice wonders, a flurry of emotions coming along with that question. Honey-gold curiosity. Smokey-shadow jealousy. Glacial-frozen intrigue. 

The girl silently stares back. While her face is devoid of any emotions, her dark eyes seem to blur into focus. Her gaze hovers on Asher, and then to Cora. It feels like her stare is like tiny pins, poking into Cora's skin until it becomes slowly painful and scorching. Then the girl returns her stare back to Asher, and then goes to Cora, before her gaze goes somewhere in between. As if she's grouped them together. 

While the girl studies them, Cora's doing the same. 

Thin fabric hangs from the girl's small frame, her dress resembling a wedding dress, all white fabric and small crystals glittering with small rainbows. Her doe-like eyes look like dark chocolate, her skin pale as if it hadn't ever been touched by the sun — yet her lips are the thing that catches Cora's attention. The girl bites down on lips red as blood, her long lashes fluttering. 

It's like looking at a queen. A dazzling queen, who shouldn't be next to commoners like Cora. Suddenly, Cora feels plain beside this girl. 

"Asher?" the girl asks, giving him a long stare. "Is that you?" 

Asher flinches, though he nods. Emotions flash through his face, before he finally settles on one thing. "Did you do this, Leticia?" he demands furiously. 

Leticia shoots him a wary frown. "Do what?" 

Tension sizzles through the air. 

"Bring me and Cora into Hell!" Asher explodes. "Were you the one who kidnapped her sister, sent demons to kill us, and then brought us into this goddamn place where innocent people were killed?" 

"'Us?'" Leticia repeats icily, before she stares up at Cora. Her head tilts to the side, openly studying Cora, before a hurt smile appears and she turns away. "Oh, I see." 

"That's all you can say?" Asher never sounded as pissed off as he does now. "Did you really do this?" 

Leticia laughs daintily. "Wow," she drawls. "I can't believe you would think that poorly of me." 

She takes a step towards Asher, who immediately steps back. "Look at that," she says softly, a glittering sheen of tears in her eyes. "You're scared of me now." 

"Of course I am," Asher spits defensively. "You're the reason I got my wishes taken away from me, the reason why I'm left with nothing—" 

"Because you deserved it!" Dalton cuts in sharply. "Stop pretending you don't know what's happening, you bastard! You ruined her life with murder, and now you're trying to be innocent?" 

Asher's gaze burns with hate, as Dalton grabs Leticia's hand. "So that's the queen you were talking about earlier?" Asher laughs under his breath. "Fitting, I suppose." 

Harper clears her throat, slowly backing away. 

"I am literally so confused," she mumbles out loud. "Is this, like, a soap opera or something?" 

Dalton hears her, because he loudly clears his throat. "Allow me to explain," he declares. "Asher and Leticia used to be a thing — not officially, of course, since a low-level devil could never date someone like Leticia. They really liked each other, though, and ignored all rules and common sense."