We both sat by side and had been for the past thirty minutes in utter silence, staring at the lake.

I lost my shit. I wasn't planning on telling her like that. But I don't know what the hell happened to me. I went back to the time as a kid where I would tell people about the things I could because I wanted their help and not only did they look at me like I was crazy, but they didn't believe me at all. My own parents didn't for so many years and everything I said was ignored and brushed off. That's how I felt. She wanted me to prove it, so I did.

"Did Kiara wanting to kill you have anything to do with what you are?"

That is the first question she asks me?

I turned to look at her. "There's a curse that comes with being a darkling. It's more about the darkling and their soulmate. She read that curse completely wrong. She thought killing me could somehow give her my powers or let her give them to someone else. She wanted them for Atticus. She was crazy and she drove him insane too. And he let her. He was so blinded by her charms," I said, rolling my eyes. "Clara, look, I understand if you need time to process it. All of it. Take as much time as you need. If you don't want to see me then just—"

"Just shut up, Callum Nikolai," she snapped.

I quieted down, staring at her.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I don't know what I should be more affected by. That you're a darkling, that supernatural beings fucking exist, or that you killed your ex-girlfriend because she was secretly a motherfucking psycho!"

We both sat in silence for a little longer.

"You killed someone."

"I did," I nodded. I realized a long time ago that I need to stop hating myself for that. I didn't do it to hurt her. I did it to save myself. And I would do it over and over again.

"Do you regret it?" she asked.

"No. I would do it again. If I don't, if I didn't, I wouldn't be alive right now."

She groaned, "God, supernatural people exist?! How many do I know?"

"Um, well there's me, there's Wyatt, he can read minds. Atticus has telekinesis, uh, Nate can become a shadow—"

"What about Daisy?" Her eyes widened.

"No, your best friend is human," I confirmed.

She nodded in understanding. "Okay, okay. Now remind me, what can you do?"

"Didn't you study this in the library?"

She glared at me.

I cleared my throat, straightening up. "I can control fire, electricity, I can make flowers bloom, I can heal from anything, I have telekinesis, I can become a shadow and also invisible along the walls, I have really good hearing. I can hear through walls sometimes. I can teleport. I can erase anybody's dream, I can compel people but I'm not very good at it. Still learning that one. And I can read minds."

"Have you... read my mind before?"

I nodded slowly.

She closed her eyes, cringing. "When?"

"When we fought last week outside the cafeteria."

"And you still didn't kiss me?!"

"I read your thoughts a little too late, sorry! I um, I read them regularly, actually. You think a lot about me, kissing me, my body. I think you've thought of fucking me once."

"Sleeping with you? I've thought of sleeping with you?"

"Are you asking me that or telling me?" I chuckled. I can't believe I'm laughing at a time like this.

She stared at me, jaw slacked. "That's an invasion of privacy!"

"That's what you're worried about?" I huffed.

"Oh my god," she exhaled, lying down but immediately sitting back up. "I think I'm going crazy."

"You're not going crazy."

"I'm going crazy."

"You're not."

"I'm crazy!"

"You're not crazy! Why would you think that?" I stared at her. I'm the one talking about teleporting but she's the one calling herself crazy?

"Because none of what you just told me bothers me." I blinked in shock.

"N-none? None of it?"

She slowly and uncertainly shook her head.

"Are you crazy?" I asked.

"Callum!"

"Sorry, sorry," I huffed. No one has ever had this reaction before. No one's ever been... okay with it.

"It's... weird. It's scary. It's fascinating. But it doesn't make me like you any less or more. Okay, maybe the darkling thing does make me like you just a little more. But I still like you."

"Even after knowing about the murder?"

"Self-defense," she corrected immediately. "You didn't murder her."

"She's dead because of me, Desmond," I deadpanned.

"If she wasn't, then you'd be dead because of her, Nikolai," she said mockingly.

"So... nothing about the whole Kiara chapter bothers you?"

"Mm-mm," she shook her head.

"And the darkling thing?"

"It's... scary. In a good way, I think. I trust you but I don't really know much about it. Maybe I can understand you better over time when I do learn more about them. How much control do you have?" she questioned.

"If I didn't lose my control when someone was trying to kill me, I think it's safe to say I'm in control."

She nodded, "Okay. Then, can you promise me something? For the sake of my reassurance?"

"Anything," I replied.

"Promise me you won't hurt me. On purpose, on accident, I don't care. I just... it's too scary to imagine. Promise me?"

"I promise." I locked my pinky with hers. I am confident in this. I can hurt anybody. Literally anybody. But not her. Just not her.

Because she's who I'm tethered to.

"You're really confident in that," she mumbled.

"Clara, all the signs of being tethered, point us to each other."

She blinked in confusion.

"Prioritizing each other, trusting each other, helping each other, taking care of each other. Blindly. We did it all without knowing each other. You—" I sighed. "You're my tether."

Silence.

"I... I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything." I shook my head. "Just remember it, please."

She looked at the gap between us and then erased it, shifting closer to me, hugging my arm.

Maybe she is crazy.

"I can't believe darklings exist and you are one," she whispered, resting her chin on my arm and looking up at me with her doe eyes. "That's amazing. You can really read my mind? Whenever you want?"

"Hmm," I nodded.

"What am I thinking?" she grinned.

I chuckled, tapping into her thought. I nodded in understanding. "You're thinking about how I should have brought chocolate-covered strawberries, don't worry, I'll bring them next time," I smirked.

She gasped, staring at me. "That's so cool. You're so cool." She shook my arm.

"You're really okay with being with a darkling? And a murderer?"

She shot me a pointed look.

"It's true, I came to terms with it when it happened," I shrugged. "She deserved it, I don't care how horrible that makes me sound."

"I'm really okay with that," she smiled. "But we're not together, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Yet."

"It must be so cool," she sighed dreamily.

"No, it's a cruel, cruel curse. My fate is cursed because I'm a darkling. It's good but it's at the cost of the worst. Growing up, you lose everything trying to gain control over the powers and your emotions. You lose your fucking sanity. You become a raging storm that no one can control. You lose yourself, you lose loved ones because they can't handle you anymore. You're ruined as a darkling," I said, staring at the water that was still flowing calmly.

I envied it. It was the kind of calm I craved to be. But no. Instead I got chaos. Havok. Raging storms. Thunder. Crashes. I had hell burning from within me, rising inside of me. And I was the fucking devil.

"Can nobody calm you?" she asked in a small voice.

"Who you're tether to usually can. But I didn't have you growing up, I just found you." I turned to her, pulling her closer, putting my arm around her shoulder. "Now I won't let go."

"Ever?" she smirked.

"Hmm," I nodded once. "Never ever, ever," I whispered, kissing her cheek and keeping my lips there for a moment.

"Darklings are always just that... dark. Aren't they? They have a dark side, a dark past. Right?"

I nodded again, looking down at her. "That darkness seriously just makes us a little evil. You'll never find a darkling doing anything good if it doesn't benefit them. We're selfish, vindictive, demanding, toxic things. That's why I wanted to give you a chance to leave, Clara. Because I won't let you now. Not even if you beg me to. You're all mine now. Maybe my past has made it worse. I am controlling and possessive now. You might not like it."

"I think you're worth it," she replied, kissing my cheek. "Tell me, how did darklings come into existence?"

"My ancestors were the first. He prayed to the gods to have one power. Any one power. My ancestors didn't have any rare children. Never did. But the gods didn't listen. I don't know how much I believe this story, actually, but I'm telling you anyway. They say when the gods didn't listen, he turned to the devil. And the devil didn't give him one. He gave him all the powers in exchange for our... bloodline, is it? I don't know. Basically, every Nikolai born a darkling is indebted to the devil. Something like that," I shrugged.

"Huh. Maybe your mom was right in calling you the devil as a kid then," she smirked.

"Oh yeah?" I chuckled.

"Yeah," she nodded.

I leaned down, kissing her. It's a little cunning of me to do this, but I need to. I just want to, actually. Really desperately. "I have a rule," I mumbled against her lips.

"Hmm?" she asked, pulling back to look at me but I pulled her back into the kiss. She might not focus too much on my words and blindly agree if she's distracted by the kiss.

"You're not allowed to kiss any other guy." That's not too much to ask, come on now, is it? "And you're not allowed to fool around with any guy. Don't hang out with a guy if I don't like him."

"You don't like anybody but Wyatt," she smiled, pecking my lips and then looking at me.

You can't distract me with a kiss.

She's grinning. She knows I'm reading her mind.

"Then you can't hang out with any guy but Wyatt. At least for the time being."

"That's okay. We're just getting started. Relationships take time, trust takes time. You'll trust me more later, I know it."

"I hope for your sake that you're right. But I say that because from here on, you're mine."

"Hmm," she nodded. "Before I'm yours, I'm my dad's daughter who you have to take back home now," she chuckled.

I whined, putting my head on her shoulder.

"Come on." She patted my hand and then stood up. I followed suit. "Take me home."

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