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He breaks the stubborn silence that’s lasted a week with a surprising statement—
“Your time has expired, April. You are no longer a bounty or a slave.”
I wander around the bed to lean back against the tall tree stump. It takes the weight off of my bare feet.
“I am not bound to return you,” he tells me, looking up at me from beneath his long lashes. “As my evate, I may keep you.”
I am stony faced. I have no expectations to meet my family ever again.
I have made peace with my decision.
“However,” the prince adds, almost softly, “I will return you for a visit if that is what you choose.”
I shake my head, curls rustling around my face, and turn my cheek to him.
“You do not want this?” Surprise hitches his voice. I hear movement; him, standing from the edge of the bed, wandering over to me, careful steps but forever predatory.
“I want nothing from you,” I whisper, eyeing him in the reflection of the mirror against the far wall.
I see his face shutter. Then it hardens all over again, and we’re back to the cruel, wicked prince I know too well.
“They were never your true family,” he tells me, and I’m sure he means to wound me. But I am too numb to feel much of anything. “Your true family abandoned you, April. It is only I who accepts you.”
“Lucky me.” I push away from the tree stump.
I make it two steps before his hand is latching onto my forearm and yanking me against him. His other hand shoots up and snatches my chin, fingers digging into my flesh.
I stare up at him blankly.
Surprising me, he brings his hardened face to mine and he plants a soft kiss on my lips. It almost makes me feel something; it rattles the walls I’ve constructed around myself.
Against my mouth, he murmurs, “We will have our own family together, evate.”
So he means to comfort me, not hurt me.
A stray tear falls down my cheek.
I shatter.
In a blink, I’ve thrown my arms around his neck and pulled him into me. He’s still for a mere heartbeat before he lifts me up off the ground and takes me to the bed.
He’s sweet with me. Loving, tender.
I weep. He likely thinks it’s just emotions from the pregnancy. And he wouldn’t be entirely wrong, either.
But it’s more than that.
This…this moment we share in his bed … It’s my goodbye to him.
Because ultimately, he will soon share this bed with another.
And I will be banished to my own room, hidden away with shame.
I will never be worthy to the prince. And that’s breaking my heart.
8
The leaves of the willow tree rustle as I slip through them, like the curtains they are. It’s the middle of the Quiet, and I’m later than I expected to be, but the iilra has waited.
