Page 37 of Fractured Memories

CHAPTER 12

KIERAN

Present day…

“What the fuck are they doing?” Rohan mutters through clenched teeth, staring at Conor and Miles with their heads tipped together. Lochlan asked a simple question about our city’s current status, and then they turned away and started whispering.

I just shake my head, propped on my left hand. The two fingers pressed against my temple do nothing for my blooming headache.

Granted, the amount of alcohol I’ve consumed and sleep I’ve lost in the last two weeks probably don’t help. After my last interaction with Eden, I fell right back into my previous coping mechanisms. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Mika.

Not that Eden has reacted the same way to her. No, Mika has been at my house every day, enjoying lunches with my wife that she doesn’t immediately suspect are poisoned—even though it’s still my fucking cook making them.

My fist clenches as I remember that failed attempt of a dinner. I really did want to try to have a civil conversation with her, but my temper got in the way. We’ve always had matching flares of frustration, but this time, our arguments don’t end in me fucking her senseless.

They end in me drunk in a house that’s not mine.

Besides Mika giving me updates after her afternoons with Eden, no one has pushed me again. I think they are all starting to see what I’ve been saying—that she wants nothing to do with me.

At least she hasn’t tried to escape. I haven’t locked her up again, though there are guards outside her door. But I know from Mika and Jude that she comes and goes as she pleases, and she’s just as drawn to the pool as she was the first time I brought her here.

Some things don’t change.

Just the important ones.

“Now you see what I’m always putting up with,” Lochlan shoots back, the two of them oblivious to the way my thoughts are eating me alive.

I went thirty-four years without feeling a damn thing—which is saying a lot considering the shite I was put through. And then I met Eden, and I’ve been reduced to a growling drunk that doesn’t know how to string two words together to convince her that she loves me.

At this point, I have no fucking clue how I did it the first time.

Because she was different, a voice whispers in the back of my head.

I ignore it because I don’t like the reminder. I don’t like remembering that Eden’s changed, that she’s now suspicious instead of fiery, that she’s defensive instead of challenging. I don’t like considering that I might have lost my wife in every way that matters and I won’t ever get her back.

So I won’t acknowledge it. Eden’s still in there—Mika seems to think so, at least.

I grunt as an elbow slams into my side, and I cut a glare at Rohan. He’s not even looking at me, though. His dark gaze is focused on Miles, who is staring at me with a thin smile.

I raise a brow, not caring if he knows I wasn’t listening. His expression grows even more brittle. “I was saying that while the increased presence of guards hasn’t caused any backlash⁠—“

“So far,” Conor mutters behind him.

Miles continues as if he heard nothing. “We haven’t found any indication of where the rebels are hiding or received any intel.”

My teeth grind. I had really expected the promise of a reward would draw at least some people out. The likelihood of no one knowing where the rebels are is slim.

Which means they must be more sympathetic than we initially thought.

I don’t say that in front of Miles or Conor, though. They would immediately disagree with my accusation, never believing the citizens in this city would turn against them like that. Me? I’m sure they have. But they like to think of themselves as the people’s friends.

It’s so fucking ridiculous.

“Have there been any more rebel sightings?” Lochlan asks. “Attacks of any kind? Disturbances in supply chains?”

Miles shakes his head, brows pinched together. He looks so concerned I wonder if he actually cares about the people who are willing to let rebels kill him. I couldn’t imagine being so tethered by morals. “We suspect that they are running too low on resources to continue.” He clasps his hands together as he looks back at me. “Which is the reason I wanted to speak with the three of you. I understand that we’ve been pulling resources to find Eden⁠—”

“No, we haven’t.”