Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 266: Chapter 266: Cupid Heart

Chapter 266 – Cupid Heart

”I guess you’re tired of living, Esmeray.”

That was all Esmeray managed to hear before the bed beneath her dissolved into blood.

She crashed to the floor hard, the puddle of blood beneath her splashing up into droplets that coagulated together, covering half her body.

A heavy, killing intent slammed into her soul, tightening her chest so hard it felt as though it were being visibly crushed between two boulders.

Esmeray coughed, tears welling at the edges of her bloodshot eyes.

The strange red blood seeped into her, slowly freezing her bloodstream like ice.

Her eyes widened in horror as they snapped toward Dorian, standing before her.

Bloody tears still streamed from his eyes, and with every drop, the frozen blood inside her grew stronger.

He looked nothing like a human, in that moment.

Nothing at all.

But Esmeray was exhausted with all of this, and after the initial shock passed, she grew eerily calm.

Her red eyes hardened like bloodstone, and she abandoned any struggle, as if she saw no point in it.

”Kill me.” She said, her voice holding far more pain than her physical state alone could explain, ”Kill me, Dorian. Fucking kill me.”

Tears began to fall. Tears mixed with blood.

Dorian approached slowly and crouched down in front of her, eyes unflinching, ”Do you really think I wouldn’t?”

”I don’t care what you think. Kill me, you fucking bastard, and end this Vorn-cursed farce already.” She gritted her teeth so hard they bled, ”You’d be doing me a favor. I hate this curse even more now, knowing you’re the only one who could heal it. And if you’re my only way out of this nightmare, then I’d rather choose death.”

”You—!”

”Fuck you, Dorian!” Esmeray screamed, spit flying from her mouth, ”You think I enjoy any of this? You think I like throwing away my dignity just to ask you to sleep with me? To be close to you? You’re the one who’s lost his damn mind, if that’s what you think! I didn’t ask to be born like this! And I didn’t ask for my only hope to be you!”

Dorian’s frown deepened.

But in that exact moment, Esmeray truly lost all fear of death.

Instead, she embraced the outcome with an eagerness she’d never known she was capable of.

Because after being treated as worthless — not just by her own extended family, but by the one being who could actually free her from this curse — there was nowhere left to go but down.

And truth be told, deep inside, the Princess of Hood was exhausted in a way no one would ever fully grasp.

She had been fighting this curse her whole life. 18 years of trying not to lose herself to sin and lust.

18 years of trying to keep her head above turbulent, stinking, merciless water, refusing to drown.

18 fucking years.

Her mind was at its limit. Her will was worn thin. Her heart, wounded far too many times.

Let her die.

”Let me die.” She whispered, then spat on the ground right in front of Dorian, ”and yes, you’re right.”

She pulled her lips into a smile.

A bloody, broken, hollow smile.

”I’m tired of living, you fucking bastard.”

Dorian said nothing. He’d already stopped using his power some moments ago. To begin with, he’d never actually intended to kill her.

To frighten her, yes. But not to kill.

He might not care about the Hoods, but his mother did. That alone was enough to rein in his murderous instincts.

But it seemed the woman herself sought death. And as someone who’d lived around death for so long, and caused plenty of it himself, Dorian knew she wasn’t bluffing.

He gritted his teeth and deactivated his Second Skill, the bloody tears stopping and vanishing as though nothing had happened.

”You’re making me lose my damn mind, Esmeray.” He ground out, angry and irritated by the whole situation, ”What in hell do you want? From the start you’ve said nothing, and now you’re demanding things you know damn well I’ll never do. I can’t sleep with you.”

”Yet you already did. Not once, but—!”

”You idiot, I didn’t know!” Dorian hissed, jaw tight, ”I didn’t know it was you. You think I would have done it if I had? What do you take me for, your parents?”

”Don’t you dare bring up my parents.” Esmeray snarled, her hands flying to his collar, gripping it coldly.

Her eyes glowed with essence, her face twisted with wrath.

”Don’t you dare!”

Dorian looked at her and pictured his mother, trying to calm himself. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had grabbed his collar like this.

”First, I say whatever I want, to whoever I want.” He batted her hands away like a mildly annoying fly, ”Second, let me ask one more time. What do you want from me? Threaten me again and you will regret it.”

Esmeray narrowed her eyes at him, feeling an intense wave of anger. In that moment, she almost wished to see him dead.

Then, she supposed, she’d have to kill herself too, since without Dorian, all hope would be gone. She didn’t have the strength left to keep going.

But she found herself pulling back from wishing death on him when Cassius’s face, out of nowhere, surfaced in her mind.

Smiling, caring, and annoyingly understanding. He had never once complained, no matter how badly she’d treated him, even though he’d had every right to.

And thinking about it now, Esmeray realized only Cassius had ever truly cared about them, the Hood.

Dorian didn’t. Morgan never had, despite being named by her own mother, Morenna. The Twins despised even visiting the Palace.

Every one of the Desdemona children was a selfish bastard, thinking only of themselves.

Every one, except Cassius.

”You don’t deserve him.” She spat suddenly, disgusted by Dorian and the rest of his siblings, ”None of you heartless bastards deserve Cassius. He’s better than all of you! Far better!”

Dorian tilted his head, startled by the sudden outburst.

Once the words fully registered, though, the cruelty melted from his face, replaced by a twisted sort of joy, ”Good, Esmeray. You’ve just become bearable in my eyes. Now I’m thinking a little less about gouging out those rude eyes of yours.”

”What?” Esmeray exclaimed, taken aback by the strange shift.

”I might even forgive your attitude, if you tell me more about Cassius and what he did to make you say that.” He added.

At that moment, Dorian’s entire presence shifted, taking on the eager energy of an older brother dying to hear about his favorite sibling’s exploits.

The switch was so sudden and jarring that Esmeray sat frozen for a couple of breaths.

”You think you can do all this to me and just act like nothing happened?” She scowled at him.

”We’re going nowhere, Esmeray. What the fuck do you actually want?”

”I don’t know!” She bellowed, ”I don’t know what I want! But I’m cursed, for Vorn’s sake! My lust is beyond anything in this fucking world! I can’t control it, and I keep finding myself in brothels, sleeping with dozens of men and women at once!”

’...dozens?’ Dorian gasped inwardly.

Even he hadn’t gone that far. His personal record was seven married women, at once.

”Yet I can only control it with you.” Esmeray’s voice dropped into open disappointment, as though she despised the very thought.

Dorian looked at her, confused, ”Why me?”

”That’s exactly what I want to know.” She whispered, exhausted, lowering her head, ”only the Blood of Cupid could help me. So you must have something like that, or close to it, for any of this to even be possible.”

She lifted her head and saw genuine surprise on Dorian’s face, as though she’d guessed one of his deepest secrets.

Esmeray found herself smiling humorlessly, ”So you really do have the blood of Cupid. The blood of a god.”

”I don’t have the blood of Cupid.” Dorian corrected, ”But I have something from Cupid.” He tilted his head, then his eyes suddenly widened, as though everything were falling into place. ”Wait!! Don’t tell me...you’re talking about the Cupid’s Curse? You have that curse?”

Esmeray frowned. Once again, she was caught off guard by his sudden shift in attitude.

She inwardly noted, and filed away, just how bipolar Dorian seemed to be.

”...I have that curse.”

Dorian’s face visibly fell, helplessness spreading across it.

He slumped to the floor, gripping his head in both anger and frustration.

”What’s wrong with you?” She asked, ”Do you know something about this curse?”

”More than you could possibly imagine.” He said, lifting his eyes back to hers, ”I’ve been researching this curse, and those who carry it, for a long time now. Since my academy years. Why do you think I built this brothel in the first place? It was to increase my odds of finding someone exactly like you!”

”Why...why would you want to find someone like that?” Esmeray was thoroughly confused now, having forgotten Dorian’s rudeness and the attack moments ago entirely.

”Because I need her. Yes, ’her’, only women can carry the Cupid’s Curse.”

”Need her for what, exactly? Can you just say the whole thing at once?!”

Dorian no longer had the energy to threaten Esmeray again, thoroughly discouraged.

”Because I need her body to awaken my Characteristic.” He said through gritted teeth, dragging a hand down his face, ”I need it...to awaken my Cupid Heart.”

—End of Chapter 266—