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“Except that she’s wrong!” I cry. “She doesn’t have all the facts. But I do.” He tenses, and it’s obvious enough that I catch it. “That’s right. I overheard you talking to Mila and Dima earlier, before you left on your little rescue mission. I heard you admit that Celine is merely a chess piece on your board. You don’t actually love her. You never did.”
He just stares coolly down at me, face giving nothing away. I hate that so much. I want to push and punch and shove him until that godawful mask cracks and shows that there’s a real person in there.
I know there is. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.
But now, when my sister and I both need him more than ever, he’s chiseled from stone. Unblinking. Unyielding in the worst way possible.
“Well?” I press. “Don’t you have anything to say?”
“No.” He meets my gaze, and there isn’t a hint of apology in him. “You’ve made your mind up about me. Nothing I say is going to change it. So I’m not going to waste my time or my breath defending myself.”
I glare at him. “Don’t you feel bad? Isn’t there a single part of you that feels guilty for putting her in this position?”
He looks away from me. I wonder what he’s trying to hide. The fact that he doesn’t feel anything? Or maybe the truth is that he feels too much?
I laugh darkly against his silence. “I suppose this is a more convenient outcome for you, isn’t it?”
“Taylor—”
“Don’t,” I snap, hating how hearing him say my name makes my insides feel weird and gooey. Or maybe I just hate what that says about me. “I need to know why you asked Celine to marry you. Because it sure as hell wasn’t for love.”
“You want the truth?” he asks.
“No,” I drawl sarcastically, “I want you to keep lying to me.”
“Fine.” He clenches and unclenches his fist at his side, the only sign that he’s anything other than perfectly at ease. “I asked Celine to marry me because I needed a woman to carry my name and my heirs. Your sister is beautiful and intelligent. She also happens to be compliant. She will do what I say, when I say it. That appealed to me.”
I recoil. “You married her because…you thought she’d be a doormat?”
“Because I knew she wouldn’t be a problem. To put it crudely.”
“It’s not just crude; it’s terrible. Terrible and…shallow. And insanely selfish.”
He shrugs. “Perhaps you’re right about that.”
I shake my head. “But you’re still going to go through with the wedding?”
“Unless she has changed her mind, then yes.”
“And if she chooses differently when she wakes up?”
He raises his brows. “Then I will let her walk away. I’m not about to force Celine—or anyone—to marry me.”
He leaves the last part unspoken:Because I won’t have to.
His confidence infuriates me—because I know he’s right. When Celine yelled at me back on Benedict Bellasio’s property, I saw the determination in her eyes. I knew what it meant.
“Have you told her what you just told me?”
Ilarion rolls his eyes. “What do you think?”
“Fine. Then when she wakes up, I’ll tell her myself.”
He nods. “Do what you must.”
I gawk at him, open-mouthed and wavering. “You don’t deserve her.”
“I won’t argue with that. But it won’t stop me from doing what I must, too.”
