"I can't help but feel like I know you. Like I really know you and everything there is to know about you. Everything but your secrets," I sighed.

"Which secrets?"

The biggest one.

"I want to know what happened between you and Atticus. What went so wrong that you despise each other?" I asked hesitantly.

He sighed, staring up and the starry sky. "I should tell you. I planned to tonight," he nodded. "You deserve a chance."

"To do what?" I frowned in confusion.

"To run from me."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, that's not happening. Come on then. Tell me." I sat up and turned around so we were both facing each other. "Were you guys friends?" I asked.

He scoffed, his eyes widening. "Do I look like I could be friends with a fucking moron like him?"

I couldn't help but smile and bite back a laugh.

"No, we were never friends. We just had a few classes together. I didn't hate him back then. He joined in freshman year. I was... already here. I had a girlfriend, her name was Kiara."

I nodded in understanding.

"Her parents were really close with mine. It was sort of those relationships that the family thinks will happen but really they just want it to happen because it's not a relationship, it's business. With an unlimited amount of profit coming with it." He rolled his eyes, looking around and the environment. "Atticus and I would occasionally talk during some classes. I knew that they knew each other, they had some classes together too, I just didn't think anything of it. I didn't like her that much at first. Then by the time we got to sophomore year, I was head over heels for her. It was so fucking typical."

"She came back after the summer looking like a whole new person. I was a stupid teenage boy, I thought she was pretty, I've always been an arrogant prick, so I asked her out. And she said yes. And we dated for a year, a little more maybe. Up until the beginning of last year. She started acting weird around then. Really weird. Actually, she was weird anyway," he laughed dryly. "She was the most reserved person I've ever met to date. And not the shy kind, the crazy kind. The creepy kind. I don't know why I never realized that earlier. Her room was blank, you know. Nothing to show that it was hers, no colors, no photos, absolutely nothing. It looked like a hospital room, that fucking—"

"Callum," I warned.

He sighed in defeat and continued. "She was acting really weird. She would avoid me and skip out the entire day, multiple days in a row without telling me where the hell she was. I would get so worried about her, she would make me lose my mind. I told Wyatt about it. Then one day, she skipped again and I went to her room to see if she was even on campus. She wasn't. But there was a jacket lying on her bed and it wasn't hers. It was a guy's, it looked like a guy's, it smelt like a guy's. So, I looked all over for her and when I asked her friends, they told me that she went with Atticus."

I frowned, listening intently.

"So, I went to his room thinking maybe they had a project to work on or something. I was... I'll come back to this bit, hold on. But I heard them talking about me. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was cheating on me with him. What terrified me, scared me the most, wasn't just that, but..." he trailed off, closing his eyes and tilting his head up.

I gave him the silence he needed and then he continued. "She wanted to kill me."

"What?" I blurted out.

"She wanted me dead, gone."

"What the hell? Why?"

"I'll come back to that part too."

I blinked in confusion.

"They were planning it. She was going to do it. She was going to kill me. They had a full plan. She would stay in my room with me one night and then stab me in my sleep. On top of that, when they came out of his room, I hid and I saw them kiss. So initially, I thought she wanted to kill me so she could be with Atticus. I thought maybe she's just too fucking insane to break up with me and move on. So the next night, I called her to my room. And I broke up with her," he shrugged.

"I told her that I saw her with Atticus. I didn't tell her that I knew she wanted to kill me, I thought she wouldn't do it now that she could be with Atticus freely."

"That didn't happen, did it?"

He shook his head. "Then and there, she pulled out the dagger on me. Wyatt warned me that day and he stole a dagger from the principal's office and gave it to me. He's the only one who I told and he was genuinely worried about me getting killed. She was going to kill me. She had it to my throat. She drew blood. So, I..." He stared down instead of meeting my eyes.

"What did you do?" I asked, trying not to let my voice waver.

"I took out the dagger and killed her instead. It was kill or get killed. I didn't do anything to deserve what I was getting. She would treat me like shit. Every time I asked about where she had been, she would turn it on me and make it sound like I was controlling and possessive. She made me fucking hate myself. And on top of that, she tried to kill me. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to get killed, so I killed her instead." He finally looked up at me and then scooted away from me.

I frowned in confusion, "Why did you do that?"

"You can't possibly want me anywhere near you after I just told you that."

I scooted forward. "Finish your story." It was self-defense. She would have killed him. I want to hear the whole thing before making any decisions.

"Atticus came in looking for her. Turns out, she didn't tell him she was going to kill me that night. They were supposed to wait and then he was supposed to help her stage it as a murder that someone did by breaking into my room. But then he came to my room and saw her dead. We got in a fight right there. Right next to her body, right next to the blood. The principal came with security and they separated us. We were taken to the office and doctors were called for Kiara to see if she could make it. When she didn't, they took her body away."

"I didn't hide anything from the principal. I told her everything and surprisingly, Atticus didn't deny it. But even if he didn't, it was self-defense, not premeditated murder. No one in the school was supposed to find out that I was the one who killed her, but the next day, Atticus went and told everybody himself. He said that I killed her because she chose him over me and I couldn't handle that. I was sent back to the palace for a while and Atticus was sent back home."

"In that time, Kiara's mother came to see me. She told me that Kiara was sick. Mentally. She had been doing some crazy shit when she was at home and they were going to admit her to a psych hospital. They were going to take her out of Ilea and they were actually relieved that she was dead because she wasn't just a danger to others but to herself too. They even tried telling Atticus that but he didn't understand. He didn't want to. I don't really blame him. I know they were heartbroken, but everyone knew something was wrong with her and no one wanted to admit it. No one wanted to come right out and say it. And everybody was a little relieved that she was gone. I was too. But only because it would have been me if it wasn't her."

"We came back to school after a few months and everybody pretended as though nothing happened. The principal demanded that it was never spoken of again. It was a tragedy, she said. But except for Atticus, no one found it to be that tragic."

Wow, holy shit.

"That's why he hates me," he concluded.

"But... why? Why did they want to kill you? It makes no sense. High school students can hate each other, they can humiliate each other, they don't plan and try murdering each other!"

"The principal is meant to tell you this but I can't wait any longer. I can't lie to you."

"About what?" I asked warily, watching him carefully.

He looked a little hurt. "You think I'll hurt you?"

"No, I'm scared your words might. What? What is it?"

"You know how we study the 'rare' ones in history and talk about supernaturals and darklings and all that?"

I nodded slowly, already knowing where this was going. "You're fucking kidding me."

"We're real, Clara."

The air was knocked out of me while I stared at him. "Those are legends."

"Those legends are real. I'm one of them."

"I don't believe you. You're messing with me." I stood up. "I know we're friends but—"

He grabbed my hand, pulling me to a halt while he stood up. "I'm not joking."

"Fine. Then what are you? What can you do?"

He wants to humor me? He can go ahead. "I'm a darkling."

"Prove it," I dared.

"Prove it?" he asked.

I nodded.

He looked around and then spotted a rose bush. He grabbed my hand, pulling me to it. "Do you see a rose on this yet?"

"No," I answered hesitantly, looking carefully.

He touched the bud that was about to bloom and a whole rose bloomed into existence.

I stayed frozen. "M-maybe that was already there. It's dark out. Callum, if you're messing with me—"

He plucked the flower, holding it in front of my face. "Prove it? You want me to prove it more?"

I took in a shaky breath.

"Okay." He held it in his left hand, a thorn pricking his thumb.

"You're bleeding!"

He held his thumb up and the blood disappeared at the prick completely healed. In a second.

What the hell?

"More?" he asked. He lifted his right hand, tracing all the petals once and then retreating his hands. Nothing. He stared at the rose. Only at the rose. And by the time I blinked, the petals were up in flames. The flower was burning right in his hands. "You believe me now? Or should I—"

"I believe you! I believe you! Put it away, you're going to get burned!"

He tossed it in the lake and it drifted away with the flow. "We're all legends. But we're real. Now you've seen a darkling. In the flesh."

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