“After all,” she continues, her voice dripping with venom, “you wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself by being caught in the quarters of such a weak woman. What would people think? The great Seth Rowan, slumming it with someone so far beneath him!”
My lips press together. She’s throwing my own words back at me, the cruel things I said in the forest, and I don’t know how to reply.
“Selene—”
“No.” She cuts me off, her eyes blazing. “You don’t get to ‘Selene’ me. You made your position abundantly clear. I’m too weak, too pathetic, not worthy of even being in the same room as you, remember?”
The mate bond is roaring in my chest, demanding I fix this, demanding I claim what’s mine. But she’s looking at me like I’m revolting, like my very presence disgusts her.
“That’s not—” I start, but the words die in my throat because it is what I said. Every cruel word she’s repeating, I hurled at her like weapons.
“Get out of my room, Commander,” she says again, her voice deadly quiet now. “Before you contaminate yourself by breathing the same air as someone so fundamentally less than you.”
The silence stretches between us, heavy and toxic. Her words hang in the air, each one a perfect echo of the cruelty I treated her with in the forest. The mate bond claws at me, desperate and confused, but Selene’s eyes hold nothing but cold disdain.
“Fine,” I bite out, my voice raspy with suppressed emotion.
I turn on my heel and step toward the bathroom door, my wolf howling in protest. At the threshold, I pause, some part of me hoping she’ll call out to me, that she’ll show even the smallest sign that this indifference is merely an act.
But when I glance over my shoulder, she has already turned away from me, struggling with the tangled curtain as if I have ceased to exist entirely.
The main room feels suffocating as I cross it in quick strides. My hand is on the door handle when I hear her voice, so quiet that I almost miss it.
“Close the door behind you.”
Not a request. A dismissal.
I step into the hallway and pull the door shut with more force than necessary. The sound echoes in the empty corridor like a gunshot.
My wolf is frantic now, pacing and whining, unable to understand why our mate rejected us so completely. The bond still burns in my chest, as strong as ever, but it feels one-sided now—binding me to someone who wants nothing to do with me.
I lean against the stone wall, running a hand through my hair. Her indifference shouldn’t bother me. I’ve been trying to push her away for months, telling myself she’s too weak, that she doesn’t belong at my side. But now that she’s looking at me with nothing but contempt, it feels like a knife twisting in my gut.
The hallway stretches empty in both directions, and for the first time in my adult life, I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do next.
Chapter Four
Selene
I wouldn’t have gotten tangledin the stupid shower curtain if not for the persistent knocking on the door. But of all the things I expected, having Seth barge into my bathroom was not on the list.
And the gall he had to look offended about my not falling all over myself to have him rescue me from the big, evil shower curtain made me want to scream at him even more. It took me ten minutes after he left—and a nasty bump on the head—to escape from the bathroom.
Stupid jerk! Why did he have to break into my quarters? Who does he think he is?
I rub the tender spot on my skull where I knocked it into the towel rack, but honestly? I’m still smiling. Even Seth’s ridiculous intrusion can’t dampen my mood today.
The absence of that constant ache in my chest is like walking on air. I keep waiting for it to return—the pull toward Seth, the desperate longing that made me feel pathetic and small. But there’s nothing. Just blessed, wonderful emptiness where all that pain used to live.
I’m free.
I have three days off to recover from healing the injured man in the forest, and I plan to make the most of them. No dwelling on what happened with Seth or watching him from across rooms. Just me, enjoying the crisp, autumn air and the freedom from wanting someone who despises me.
The palace gardens are perfect this time of year. Golden leaves drift down from the trees, and the late morning sun feels warm despite the cool breeze. I find my favorite bench tucked between the herb garden and the rose bushes, a quiet spot where I can sit and simply exist without anyone expecting anything from me.
I close my eyes and tilt my face toward the sun, letting its warmth seep into my skin. Birds chirp in the branches above me, and somewhere in the distance, I can hear the fountain bubbling peacefully. This is exactly what I needed—solitude, quiet, and the simple pleasure of life.
“Well, if it isn’t the little healer who saved me.”
