“They would have found us.”
“They haven’t found you yet.”
She pursed her lips, agitated by my persistence. “They didn’t just threaten you. They threatened to kill your family and friends if we ran off together. They also mentioned your family trying to kill me, too. That it was all too dangerous for us to staytogether and that our families could never be united, although they refused to further discuss the reason.”
I glared at her. “That’s nothing my family would do.”
She snorted. “Of course, you wouldn’t believe they would. You’ve always thought your family was perfect. I understand the plight of dragons, but not all of them are innocent. And the few times I got to see your family, because they never invited me to any functions, they weren’t the nicest.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “They were nicer than your family.” I was not helping the situation, I knew it, but I couldn’t stop myself from speaking. A problem I was minimally working on.
She looked away, shaking her head. “You’ve always seen what you wanted to see, Ivan. Anyway, I believed my family. Maybe that was silly, but they were quite convincing. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, even if it wasn’t us. Therefore, I lied to make you feel small and inadequate. I played on all your insecurities about being working class so you would hate me and not fight the breakup.”
I tilted my head back, closing my eyes briefly and remembering that awful night. “I didn’t believe you at first.”
“I know, you live in your own reality at times.” Her eyes darkened, lips flexing in a slight soundless snarl, and I knew what was coming next. “But then you did. And you got over me super quickly with another female, so maybe it was all an act to put up a fight for me. Which is why I don’t believe your whole land of delusion about us just being separated.”
I heard the bitterness in her voice, and it pained me. “It wasn’t like that. I was hurting. I thought I’d lost you, and I got drunk. So drunk that I couldn’t get myself home and another soldier at the pub I frequented took me home. She was putting me on the bed and stumbled on top of me. I won’t lie and say it was totallyinnocent. I think she had a crush on me; she’d been flirting with me for some time.”
Jalisa crossed her arms, giving me an icy stare. “And you were now single, drunk, and vulnerable. Her lucky day. At least until I showed up.”
“No, it’s good you showed up. Or I would have done something I would have regretted even more. I wasn’t totally innocent. I was angry and being reckless. But why did you come back after you broke it off?”
Her face was now less hard, and she was staring intently at the food. I knew I’d hurt her when she walked in on us but, was she still in pain? Her coldness toward me now made me believe that she no longer cared. Was I wrong? My heart sped up as I waited for her answer, finding myself hoping for a response that would give me some hope even after all this time.
She waved her hand at the food. “It’s getting cold. We should really eat.”
I shifted in my seat, growing restless. “You should really answer my question.”
She looked up at me with raised brows, shocked at my attitude. “Stubborn. Fine. I came back because I realized my mistake.”
“What changed your mind?”
I noticed she was massaging the knuckles of her right hand. I recalled her doing that a lot when we were together. At first, I thought it was a nervous habit but later learned it was because her joints ached. They would inflame from time to time, sometimes the pain was brought on by stress. I imagined that this was a stressful discussion, hell, situation. I felt bad and thought that maybe I should let it go for now but my curiosity, pain, was too great.
Jalisa looked up at the ceiling and began to massage the knuckles of her other hand. “When I called it off, I went backhome, you remember I was staying with my parents. Later that evening, for dinner, a guest arrived. A noble alpha who my parents had wanted me to marry. He was from a very powerful family and my father kept mentioning how a joining of our families and businesses would make us all rise in status. I didn’t want him, though. I wanted you.” She began to rub her right arm.
I got up and moved to a seat close to her, unable to do nothing as I watched her go through her ritual to ease her pain. “Can I?”
She gave me a distrustful glare, eyes narrowing. “I’m fine.”
I rolled my eyes. And she saidIwas stubborn. “You are not fine. I used to give you massages all the time and you said they were the best. Which makes sense because I’m the best at everything.”
She snorted. “I should never have given you a compliment. You think enough of yourself on your own.” She pointed her arm in my direction. “Fine.”
I grinned and began to massage her upper arm, and I could see her instantly relax, her shoulders slumping. I still had the magic touch. “So, about this noble, what happened at the dinner?”
Her body tensed, undoing my good work. “I told them I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to date anyone. I was so sad. I could barely see through the tears clouding my eyes and here they were putting some uptight fart in front of my face.”
I chuckled. “Iamhard to replace.”
She cut her eyes at me. “I didn’t say that. But things were still fresh, and they didn’t care. And they didn’t trust me not to change my mind because they had a plan. An ugly one.” I moved to her other arm, remaining silent. “We went to the sitting room to have after dinner coffee, tea, and dessert. They gave me the option to say yes, and when I didn’t, they made the choice for me. I still remember the look my father gave to that fae. It was angry, and he nodded once. He took my mother and they left theroom, closing the door behind them. This was preplanned. I was so confused and still not in the best frame of mind. And before I could understand what was happening, the noble had jumped up and lunged at me. He grabbed me by the arms, knocking me back on the couch. And then he bared his teeth and tried to bite me.”
She moved to touch her neck with her free hand, but I could see no bite. Anger surged through me, and it took all my control to maintain steady pressure on her arm. “I can still hear my mother screaming on the other side of the door, trying to get in. I guess my father wouldn’t let her. I don’t know if she was part of the plan or knew it would get to that level. I felt his teeth sink into my skin, the pain. It felt like knives.” She shook her head. “But I kicked him off me before he could complete the bite and claim me. Then I ran out the room, using my magic to knock my father out of the way. I didn’t even stop to talk or yell at my parents. I just ran for my life. I was scared, angry, confused. How could they force a claiming on their own daughter? I feel sick just thinking about it again.”
“What was this noble’s name?” I growled, already plotting how I would get away with murder.
She glanced at me, a look of sad resignation on her face. “It doesn’t matter. He didn’t claim me, and I’m safe. But after what they tried to do to me, I didn’t care about their threats anymore. I just wanted to be with someone who really loved me. Someone who wouldn’t betray me or hurt me. Someone who understood how being considered less than in society could make you so powerless.”
