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Christ, I didn’t want this. I hadn’t asked for some true love idiot to show up in my life and ruin everything, to try to make me feel fucking forgiven. I deserved punishment for what I’d done. Yasmin had murdered people with my magic.
I suddenly wanted to tell him to stop looking at me like that, or better yet, I should just cut out his eyes so he could never look at me again. It was better than experiencing this lump in my throat, this craving for something sweet and compassionate that hinted vaguely of redemption. This fool couldn’t right my wrongs. He couldn’t fix anything I’d broken. He should stop giving me so much hope.
“Well, it appears he did know everything about you, after all, didn’t he,” Melaina announced, breaking the stare he held me under.
He definitely knew more than I wanted him to, that was for sure, especially my culpability over it all.
“So what?” I muttered, turning away abruptly to finish securing the saddle to my horse. “It changes nothing.”
I didn’t know who this man thought he was, coming in here, invading my life, and making crazy claims—no matter how true they were—but I did not like it.
I didn’t like any of this.
Chapter 8
Indigo
I had to appreciate my true love’s no-nonsense manner. She definitely wasn’t given to drama or theatrics. Her tidy and economical way of preparing for travel was downright admirable, too. But I had kind of been hoping for a little more reaction from her than this.
Upon learning I was her life partner, she decided to pretend I didn’t exist.
That stung.
“We have places to be,” she told her aunt tersely as she swung into the saddle and glanced toward Melaina, totally ignoring my presence in the process. “So let’s go already.”
“Wait.” I stepped toward her, blinking in confusion. “Where’re you going?”
I mean, seriously. What was this nonsense? She’d just found out she had a true love, and so she was going to leave? Didn’t she want to—I don’t know—maybe get to know me or something?
I guess not.
Instead of answering me, Quilla acted as if she hadn’t even heard the question, and she clicked her tongue, urging her mount into a canter.
Blinking, I gaped after her and shook my head incredulously.
She was different now. The first moment she’d spun around on that rock where she was sunning herself dry and had faced off with me, she’d been filled with a far different energy. Confidence, anger, determination. She’d had no qualms about looking me in the eye then.
Now, all that brave, defiant rage was clouded with vulnerability and uncertainty, all layered under a heap of unrelenting irritation.
When she’d thought of me as her foe, the lines between us were clear. She knew how to deal with me then. But now that she realized I wasn’t here to hurt her, she couldn’t accept me as an ally, either.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind she still wished I was the enemy because she suddenly had no idea what to do about me, and that bothered her.
But she certainly wasn’t going to figure anything out if she just walked away.
“Are you just going to leave me here?” I called. “What is the point of these, then, if you don’t even have some chain to drag me along behind you?” I jangled my wrist manacles to get her attention. “Not worried I’ll run off?”
She shot me a glare over her shoulder. “I’m not the one who bound you. If it were up to me; you’d be dead right now.”
My eyebrows shot up. Well, that wasn’t very reassuring. But I wasn’t going to let it bother me.
“So, then...” I sent her the sweetest smile I possessed—and I had some damn sweet smiles if I did say so myself. “Would you mind doing your true love a favor and removing my cuffs?”
“Fuck off.” She faced forward again and kept sauntering away.
Okay, then. “Politeness; not her thing. Got it.” I turned toward the aunt. “Since you seem to be my warden, could you remove these? Certainly, you know I have no reason to escape. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with her.”
The older woman sent me a sly smile. “Yes, I’m fully aware of your complete devotion to her.”
