A/N ~ Ok, I just thought I'd put this in to be completely clear. In NO WAY am I trying to humanize Minos. He is a monster and a rapist. It's just that there are stories on this site where rapists were considered love interests and it completely disturbs me. His behavior is meant to portray him as completely fucked up in the head, not "redeemable."

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter doesn't contain a rape scene, but it does have to do with what happened right after that. I'll line it with *******. There's also thoughts/mentionings of suicide, which I'll line with ^^^^^^. K? K. 

NPOV

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The sounds of his moans and grunting were fixed in my mind. The feel of the sheets, of the sweat. The way his lips grinned against my skin. I grew familiar with his entire body, while he pinned me down to take advantage of mine.

I hated him.

"You're beautiful," Minos whispered. He traced my scars with a feathery touch. "I can't believe Octavian did this to you."

His legs were wrapped around me and my head was on his chest. I wanted to pull away, to put as much distance between us as possible, because it felt so wrong. It was bad enough that he used my body like a toy - afterward, he treated me like I was a person. Nothing about that was normal. 

He bruised and groped, he screamed at me for crying. I thought I was going to die. When that was over, all he wanted to do was lay together and have a conversation. It was sick.

There was a weird, far away expression on his face.

I didn't know what to do. He hadn't hit me yet, but it was only a matter of time before he lost it. He scared me more than anyone - I didn't want him to explode the way other people did.

"I-Is there something wrong?" I asked.

"It's nothing, I just wish we could have more time together."

"Oh."

"It doesn't matter. I'll see you again soon." Minos breathed. He moved his hand from the inside of my thigh to his discarded clothes.

On his way out the door, he grabbed my face and roughly pulled. My lips were forced to meet his.

I didn't try to break away, I was too scared.

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~

My hands were shaking as I got dressed. Tears never came, no matter how much I wanted them to. They brought me relief, it was like I was addicted to them.

I could only feel my throat closing up and a sinking feeling in my stomach. I couldn't steady my breathing. I felt like I was going to be sick.

"I'll see you again soon."

Everything seemed to slow down.

I 

couldn't

do

this

anymore.

The hall was dark when I pushed the door open. It was quiet. Common sense told me it was nighttime, that everyone was either asleep or pretending to be. I crept down the stairs and made my way to the kitchen.

I found the knives in the first drawer I opened. It was almost fate.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"What the hell are you doing?"

I spun around to face Dakota, the blade slipping out of my hand and clattering to the floor.

There was silence as we both stared at it. I tried to come up with something to say, but I couldn't form any words.

The things unspoken hung in the air.

Finally, he looked up. I saw too many questions in his eyes as they met mine. Too many emotions.

"Was that for you?" He whispered. Something in his tone was highlighted in anger.

"I-I don't know... maybe?" I broke eye contact, admitting something dangerous.

"You don't get to do that."

Despite everything, I rolled my eyes. "It's none of your business."

"None of my business?" His expression turned into a sneer. "You're not the first person to think of killing yourself. It crosses my mind a million times a day. I know exactly how I would do it, hundreds of ways, but I won't. You know as well as I do that Lycaon would just replace you with some poor kid off the street anyway. A kid with a future. Your life is already over - killing yourself would just mean that you chose to ruin someone else's life, too. Us living in this hell means that other people don't have to. Don't be selfish."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Then I'll kill Lycaon." I snapped. "Kronos. Minos. Octavian-"

He stepped closer to me. "Who else?" He hissed. "Geia? Don't be ridiculous."

The crack of a gunshot was stark against every other memory I had of my sister. My mind was constantly replaying her body hitting the ground.

And then there was Will.

"I can't keep doing this! People are dead, people I cared about! Do you have any idea how that feels? He's dead because of me!"

The weight pushed me to the floor and I cried, ugly sobs that flooded over to dance with guilt. It was the first time I allowed myself to grieve. How could I ignore him for long? I loved everything he was, everything he stood for. What type of person did I have to be, to ruin him the way I did?

Dakota sat next to me. The anger melted out of his expression as I broke down.

How easily I could fall apart... It was embarrassing.

"I'm sorry I was so mean to you..."

"You weren't." I choked. I held my head in my hands as if I could hide my weaknesses from him. "You were right. It's just- I need-"

"Closure?" He asked.

I gave a tiny nod.

He stood, helping me to my feet before picking up the knife. "You won't find closure in killing someone. You can't lose yourself like that."

He put the knife in the sink and gestured for me to follow him.

"Come on. You look like you need a cigarette."

He turned away from me.

But I couldn't let it go.

The knife disappeared, hidden in my clothes.

A/N ~ you guys.

That was a hard chapter to write, I hope it didn't sound like total crap lol

I'm sorry I haven't been on here as often as I usually am. My grades are slipping and I just finished filling out applications. Its like I have a neverending to-do list. Plus I've been trying to outline a sci-fi book thing and that's been taking a lot of my time so

Another thing: I really want a better cover for this book, but I legit suck at making them. Would anyone mind giving me tips? Or someone could just do it for me lol that'd be cool too

Thanks for reading my dudes