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“No.” Niamh sighed, and Bryn watched a weight lift from her shoulders. “That’s my own secret. No, what worries me about you hating me is a secret that’s not my own, but I cannot tell thanks to the geas. Which means I cannot tell you until the truth comes to light on its own. If I could, you can guarantee I’d spill everything in a heartbeat.”
Bryn did know that, could tell it was true, so she nodded to her friend.
Niamh smiled, reaching for Bryn, but stopping since she knew Bryn hated to be touched.
Without a second thought, Bryn stood up and walked to Niamh, pulling her into a hug.
Unused to reaching for another person, to give affection, she pushed aside her own fear. Her friend needed comfort, and so Bryn would give it.
The two people she thought of as her siblings, who meant so much to her, were in this room. The two people she would fight any demons, including her own, to protect.
Stepping back, Niamh moved the hair that had escaped Bryn’s ponytail back over her ear. “You should get some rest, darling. He will be out until the sun rises.”
Niamh left quietly after her words, letting the door click shut and leaving Bryn to the quiet of the room and her own thoughts.
Yes, Bryn needed rest, her world was spinning out of control, and she was having a hard time hanging on to herself.
Instead, Bryn moved to look out the window onto the street below. People were hesitant to leave their homes since the storm, but some still worked on the small community farm. She watched as they made their way down Saints’ Road, the last of what was left of the crops in tow.
While most of their food was brought in from outside, the import and export of needed items controlled by the king, Ifreann never had to go without like she’d heard Tanwen had.
As if the very reason for their abundance was summoned, a flash of auburn hair caught her eye, and she watched Declan walking into the Cauldron with his massive shoulders bowed. Declan had been dealt even more upheaval than anyone else in town. Finding out his father was not who he thought he was, Bryn could feel for the man even after he’d hurt her.
Checking on Jace one more time, she made her way to the Cauldron. An odd feeling after she’d worked so hard to avoid it since their last conversation, or fight, where they had broken up.
Stepping into the large trading post, several of the men Declan had hired as personal security watched her with narrowed eyes. The suspicion had always been evident even when she had been dating Declan. Thankfully, they did not stop her as she made her way upstairs to Declan’s apartment above his office.
She never visualized she’d be back in the Cauldron after the day she had walked out of his life.
Tapping lightly on his door, she questioned her judgment in coming here. The conversation was bound to lead to the end of their relationship, but perhaps it was better to stop ignoring it so they could have closure and move on.
They had enough to deal with, especially without adding old drama to it.
“Not in the mood, Mikey,” Declan growled from the other side of the door, and Bryn remembered Mikey was one of the traders from downstairs. She had liked Mikey. Maybe he hadn’t been outright nice to her, but he hadn’t spat at her feet either.
“It’s not Mikey, Dec,” she replied, and heard quick footsteps before the door swung open, Declan looking down at her in shock and disbelief. She had promised not to return and had managed to do so until today.
Waiting for him to move out of the way and let her in, she wondered if she was even welcome. She’d said so many harsh words due to the pain of finding him cuddled up to another woman downstairs in his office.
“I just wanted to check on you,” she stated, stepping back after the beat of silence had gone from awkward to weird. Why had she thought this was a good idea again?
“Wait!” He stepped forward, holding his hand out for her. “Please come in. I just, I am shocked to see you here, but I am happy as well.”
Biting her lip, she placed her hand in his and followed him in.
Nothing had changed. The dresser she’d used when she’d been slowly moving in with him was still there, her belongings in the same spot as before. It was as if he were sure they’d take back up where they left off or scared they wouldn’t and couldn’t remove the items as the last piece of her in his space.
For a whole year, they’d had a life together here where Bryn had felt truly safe for the first time. The room represented a year of shelter from her aunt.
Then she had been betrayed and left, moving back into her apartment even though that meant dealing with her aunt since there were no open rooms at the Sanctuary, and Bryn refused to displace one of the girls.
Thankfully, Mallory had started her courtship with Daran and was not home much anymore as they prepared for the wedding and worked at the church. It kept her aunt busy enough to where Bryn could slip in and out without running into the woman.
Feeling worthless and rejected, she’d thought she deserved him cheating. Just as she thought she deserved the abuse. She always thought being happy in her mind meant another shoe would drop. That there would be punishment for every smile.
“Stop it, Bryn. None of that...” He ran his hand down his face and over the scruff of his jaw. “I let my guard down, and she snuck in. Nothing would have happened, and had you come in seconds later, I would have broken off the kiss.”
She’d heard the words before, refused to believe it then, and had a hard time even now believing them.
