I want to believe him. I want to throw myself into his arms and let him explain everything, but I’ve done that before, too many times. And I’m tired of making the same mistakes.
“You said not to trust anyone within the kingdom,” I whisper, my voice trembling. Tears blur my vision, but I blink them away, refusing to let them fall. “I should have listened.”
His grip tightens, his thumb brushing against my wrist as he tries to reel me back in. “Hannah, you have to let me explain—”
“Let me go, Kane! I don’t need you to save me anymore.”
Kane’s gaze snaps to mine, panic flashing in his eye. We both freeze as my outburst hits us like a thunderbolt. I didn’t mean to say his name outside of the privacy of just us, to blurt out the truth of who he is. But I can’t take it back. I can only hope Ivy didn’t notice.
“Goodbye, Ashwood.” My hand is on the door. I’m almost free, away from them and my growing list of mistakes.
“What did you call him?” Ivy’s voice is a chill against my back, and I turn to face her.
“Lord Ashwood. His name. What else?” I smash my purse against my stomach, trying to make both of us smaller. I know Kane needs me, but I don’t know how to help him. Or even if I should.
Ivy’s smile returns, deadly and gleaming as a shark’s. She moves with a predatory grace, her hips swaying as she drifts closer to Kane. Her gaze rakes over him, taking in his tall frame wrapped in taut, sculpted muscles, broad shoulders, and sun-bronzed skin. She lifts his eye patch and lets out a gentle gasp.
“I thought I recognized that jawline…thatthickbody.” She runs her hand along his cheek, her fingers trailing down to the exposed slice of his chest. “I even told Four I suspected something was amiss, but leave it to a man to be outsmarted by a clever eye patch and bad haircut.”
Kane’s hands tighten into fists at his side, the tension in his body heating the air. “Ivy, this doesn’t need to leave this room.”
Ivy laughs as sharp and crisp as breaking glass. “Oh, this is too good to keep between us.” She tilts her head. Blond hair falls across her shoulder in silken waves. “Especially since this ruse was no doubt about me.”
Kane glares at her, his jaw clenched so tightly it might crack. The air between them is electric and sparking with history.
They were together. They have a past.
The realization thunders over me, leaving me breathless and dizzy.
I let myself trust him, get caught up in hopes and dreams. I ignored the red flags and warning signs and how guarded and oafish he became when I mentioned her name. I pushed aside my intuition and blamed myself for being jealous when I thought they were formally introduced for the first time at tea with the queen.
Deep down, I knew.
I knew there was something between them.
I knew he wouldn’t give me his heart because he’d rather save it for someone else—for Ivy.
“No denying it, then?” Ivy purrs, her smug satisfaction making me shudder.
My breaths are shallow, my mind racing, grasping for fragments of their shared history.
She was his secret weapon, the person he knew he could get to ally against Four and bring with her allegiance members of the court.
He knew I wouldn’t understand. Or worse, I would fuck it up and wouldn’t let him have fun with me if I knew the truth.
Kane was protecting her.
“If you breathe a word of this to Four, I will make sure you live to regret it.” His words are a deadly promise, and for a moment, Ivy’s smirk falters.
“Oh, Kane, I already lived a life of regret.” Her smile returns, eyes glinting with malice. “When I was with you.”
I take a deep breath, my heart clenching as my gaze swings to Kane. “Ivy was your plan all along—the one you knew could turn the tide against Four with her connections. You said she had her uses. I just didn’t know how thoroughly you had explored them.” My voice wavers, tears swirling my vision.
“The worst part isn’t that you two clearly have some complicated relationship you didn’t think I deserved to know. It’s that, even knowing my past with her mirror version, you chose to lie to me when I asked you about her. You still wanted to sleep with me, and you didn’t think I was smart enough or capable enough to know your real plan without messing it up or closing my legs.”
Kane steps toward me, trying to bridge the chasm the truth has cracked open between us.
“No, Kane, don’t. I let myself feel things for you. I let myself think you could possibly feel something for me too. I overlooked every instinct and moment of common sense I had.
