"You kept this from me. All of this."
Miranda took in a long breath. her fingers closed into fists where they hung between her legs then opened. Closed then opened. The others had left, leaving only the two of them in the room. Even Aristelle had finally had the good sense to butt out. She looked up at him from where she sat, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly tired.
"I've always been up front."
"You didn't really elaborate on the fact that your sister is the devil."
Miranda's smile was sharp. "I've seen the devil. She ain't it."
"And you." The expression on his face was like a dagger to the heart and Miranda had to fight from recoiling at the pain of it. "Did you feel you could not tell me what you could do? Who you were?"
"I told you over and over I was no good. That the people who attached themselves to me get hurt. You chose not to listen. I thought after everything you have been through, what you have done, that you would understand."
He flinched at her words and she could have buried herself then and there. "That's just the thing. You know every horrible act I've committed. It's only fair that I get to see your demons."
"You've seen my demons, up close and personal." His eyes shuttered and she knew he was remembering that night in the warehouse. The creature that reached out and touched his mind. "If you knew what was good for you, you'd leave me, right here and now, and never look back."
He threw his hands up in frustration. "God! All I want is the truth, Miranda. Or do I call you 'Mortekaia?' It's only a name, and you kept that from me too. I just...I just want one truth. I went into this knowing that I knew nothing real about you, but I thought it was a trust thing. That you would open up to me. I thought we were at least that far."
"I despise my name and the words that have derived from it." Miranda leaned back, scrubbing her hands over her face. "And it's not a 'trust' thing. It's a 'fear' thing. I'm terrified, James."
"Of what? That horror show of a sister?"
A sad smile tilted her lips. She was tired of lying to him. Tired of lying to herself. "Of losing you."
He let out a breath, as though someone had punched him in the stomach. The surprise of her words like a physical blow moving him back one unsteady step.
"I thought...God, I don't know what I thought." Miranda leaned forward, her elbows driving hard into the tops of her knees as she pulled at her hair. "I thought maybe this could be different. That I could love something. That I was finally deserving of it. But I was wrong. I'm not sure it's something I'm meant for."
"Love…" The word was barely a whisper as it crossed his lips.
She looked up at him slowly, as if any sudden movement might spook him. His eyes were wide as they searched her face for a lie, but she was an open book, every word written in truth.
And then she was saying it, the words she had thought hundreds of times since she had met him but had never spoken aloud for fear that to say them would make them concrete and true. "You are everything I never thought I deserved. And still do not."
She looked down at her hands, unable to watch the war of emotions on his face. This would be the end of it. He knew what she was now. And he would walk away. But that was what she wanted wasn't it? Isn't that what she had told him to do countless times?
"Hey." His voice was incredibly soft, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him.
She squeezed her fingers until they hurt. His footfalls were almost perfectly silent as he moved across the room towards her. She swallowed, pressing her fingers into her eyes until she saw stars, pleading with the tears to hold on for a little bit longer.
"Hey…" There was a hand on her knee and then the cool touch of his metal fingers beneath her chin. His thumb grazed her lower lip as he turned her face to his.
He was on his knees before her. His expression soft and open as his eyes searched her face. Everything had shifted between them now. She could feel it. The ground was uncertain, threatening to crumble. But here, at the end of his finger tips, she felt safe despite all of it. She leaned into him, pressing her forehead against his.
"All I ask is no more secrets. I'm in this now, Em. For all of it." He pressed his lips against hers, slow and gentle. "Till the end of the line."