Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

Chapter 432: Chapter 432: Love in Madness

Chapter 432 – Love in Madness

Rea looked at Kaden as if he had grown a second head, her red eyes glowing with a searing light of shock.

She was still holding his bloodied hand with her own and didn’t even realize that she was tightening it so much her knuckles were cracking.

Kaden said nothing, feeling the slight pain, looking at Rea with an outwardly calm expression while inside he was wondering why he was in such a revelatory mood today, out of all times, to tell Rea about Meris, Vaela, and even Inara.

It was clearly not the perfect time, but Kaden found himself acting in a way even he hadn’t expected lately.

It was like Rea had unveiled something out of him, like a curtain pulled away to show the sun, his most honest aspect.

That aspect he usually hid and scarcely displayed, for he loved to overthink and try to consider other people’s feelings before his own.

Well, not today. Not with Rea.

And he didn’t know if he should be glad or not.

"Can... can you repeat?" Rea finally spoke, her voice weirdly hoarse and strained. "You said what, Kaden?"

"Don’t make me repeat it," Kaden cringed. "It was hard enough the first time."

"Hard enough?" Rea scowled, leaning her face dangerously close to Kaden. "It’s hard enough for you and not for me? Kaden, you just admitted that you cheated on me! And this is not one-sided love like me with Einar..."

She paused, her throat tightening like a fist, her teeth clacking so hard Kaden thought they were going to shatter.

After seconds of tense, uncomfortable silence, Rea managed to continue.

"...you actually love them. Oh, Sorrow burn me, you... love Meris?" Her voice was almost disdainful. "That godforsaken princess born with everything? What can you love about her? She is nothing but a plain princess!"

Kaden’s eyes became slightly irritated. "You don’t know her, Rea. She is more than what you think."

"Great. Just great, Kaden. Now you are protecting your mistress in front of me?" Rea tilted her head in a very strange, eerie way. For a moment, Kaden saw black tears swelling around her eyes. "What would you do if I wished to kill her?"

"I thought you cared about me."

"That’s why I want to kill her," she spat. "Will you stop me?"

"I will," Kaden nodded. "But the question is, can you even kill her?"

Kaden was strangely provocative with Rea, looking at her with defiance. And the God-Touched did not like what she had just heard.

"Who do you take me for?" she asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. "Does she fear something?" She hissed like a venomous snake.

"I guess, yes."

"Then I can kill her, Kaden." Her lips were an inch from his own. "Believe me when I say this. And if her face is still as insufferable as the last time I saw her, I can just let the goddess run free."

"You would not dare." Kaden’s eyebrows creased.

"Try me." Rea smiled coldly.

Kaden knew she would. Rea was, in the simplest sense, crazy.

"And it’s not even only her," Rea continued, her voice tinged with outrage. "A beast of the snake tribe and a former Cerveau. What are you playing at? Is this you trying to make me jealous?"

"Are you jealous?"

"I am."

"Happy to know that. But no, I am serious."

"How come your family accepted this?" Rea asked again, this time tiredly, as if strength was leaving her body. "They are known to worship monogamy!"

"They can’t refuse me," Kaden said, almost too smugly for Rea’s taste. "And your father knows, and he gave me his benediction."

"What if I don’t want to?" Rea growled. "Where is my place in all this? My father was the one who married me to you without my consent, and now he accepts this without my consent!"

Rea was getting tired of all this. Since the beginning, the matter of her love life had only been handled by her father, who didn’t give her any other choice but to follow his orders.

It had been unbearable, but even with that, Rea had come to feel something for Kaden and was even ready to act like a proper fiancée and lover by killing anyone who dared to get too close to him.

Yet here she was, given the information that there were three other women beside her.

Rea felt a moment of loss, not knowing what to do with her bleeding, screaming, crying heart anymore.

Kaden could see it, and it hurt him more than he was willing to show openly. This was the situation he had been dreading all this time, and now he knew why as he observed Rea’s face losing all color.

He bit the inside of his mouth, unraveled his hand from Rea’s grip — the young lady fought back like an angry hound before Kaden succeeded — then wrapped her in a tight hug.

Rea’s heart sped up instantly, her stomach twisting strangely at Kaden’s warmth. She instinctively closed her eyes, despite not wanting to.

"I am sorry," he said, realizing he was always sorry lately, "for disappointing you."

"Saying sorry will not change the situation," Rea said harshly.

"Well, I know. I also know no amount of excuses will be enough to justify this situation. I can only ask you to bear it with me."

"You are a godforsaken, selfish, hypocritical bastard, Kaden. Do you know that?" Her voice shook. "You are asking me to give all of me while you can’t even give me all of you!"

Kaden’s heart dropped, shame flooding it, threatening to drown him whole.

"Yes," he said, voice tight, having nothing else to say. "I am asking you that. And I can only promise you, Rea, to love you to the best of my abilities; to be here for you no matter what. However..."

He paused briefly, then slowly,

"...I will understand if you decide not to accept."

"Of course you will," Rea scoffed, silent for a heartbeat or two before continuing in a low voice. "But damn, Kaden. It’s already too late for such words."

She broke the hug slowly, almost reluctantly, facing him, locking her ruby eyes into his.

"I don’t think I can feel what I feel about you for anyone else. And I am not strong enough to discard one of the scarce sources of happiness in my life."

Oh... don’t you know, Rea? It takes a considerable amount of strength, patience, and courage to accept sharing the one you love.

A kind of strength Kaden didn’t have. And would never have.

Once again, Kaden was amazed. And once again, he felt like shit.

He sighed, closing his eyes, as he felt Rea resting her forehead against his.

"I can feel your regret and shame," she said, closing her eyes in return. "It’s..." She bit her lips. "...it’s enough."

"I know it’s not," Kaden whispered.

"Let me lie to myself for you, damn it, Kaden!" she berated, then huffed irritably. "I just need to make one thing clear."

Kaden listened.

"I am the first," Rea said with a strong voice. "I, and no one else."

"You indeed are," Kaden nodded.

"And you have angered me. I hope they are as strong as you claim them to be. I won’t hesitate to use my power on them," she said, then added with obvious falsehood, "just to test them."

Kaden only smiled, remembering Meris’s Primordial lineage, Inara’s monsters, and Vaela’s mythic status.

"You won’t be disappointed—!"

Kaden’s words were swallowed as Rea pressed her lips to his. She kissed him the way someone kisses for the first time — rash, awkward, as if learning in real time.

She didn’t stop there and went as far as to bite his lip harshly, drawing blood and drinking it.

She pulled away, his blood trickling down her lips, staining her teeth red.

Kaden watched her, confused. But Rea’s next words confused him even more.

She leaned in again, presenting her lips.

"Do the same," she demanded.

"What? Why?"

"To make this official," Rea said, licking Kaden’s blood. "You and I, Kaden Warborn, until the very meaning of existence is no more."

Her voice was strange, as if it was no longer Rea speaking, but something else...something that made Kaden’s blood boil.

"Drink my blood, Kaden," Rea ordered, voice like a concept itself, taking his cheeks in her bloodied hands. "And let us be one."

The two fiancés were covered in blood, a heart lying beside them, coupled with the corpse of a Forbidden Alchemist.

"The Church truly messed up your mind, Rea," Kaden finally said.

"Are you afraid of who I am?"

Kaden grinned, eyes flashing with a strange, madness-filled hue. "Not at all." He said, then kissed Rea, biting her lip and drinking her blood.

Rea moaned in ecstasy, tightening her grip on him, feeling something inside her finally fill completely.

She felt whole. Kaden felt whole.

They... felt strangely whole.

And so Rea’s lips danced sensually with Kaden’s, their blood mixing in a strange pattern.

The pattern of a Wheel turning, turning, and turning.

—End of Chapter 432—