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“Why were you gone so long?” I looked behind her, making eye contact with Ysa. She held up five fingers. “Five hours, Danni. You didn’t even leave a note. Why?”
“I don’t know. Because I walk slow? I don’t know. I didn’t realize I had a curfew.” Her brows furrowed, and the muscle in her jaw tightened. She scanned the room again, her heart rate picking up.
I waved everyone out, cupping Danni’s elbow, then started walking. She smacked my hand away, then got ahead of me as she headed toward the staircase.
Nova ran to catch up, taking the steps up to our floor side by side with her. On the top level, Danni stomped down the hallway, then stormed into our room, practically shutting the door in my face. My hand caught it, and I followed inside before closing it.
She whirled around, her wet strands flying and slapping her in the face. “What just happened down there?”
“I needed to know you were safe.” I reached forward, brushing the thick ropes of hair away.
She backed up, gesturing up and down to her body. “You can see that I am.”
“You didn’t answer your phone, Danni. We tried, and when we asked around, no one said they’d seen you. No one knew if you were alone or not.”
She blinked several times, pulling her phone from her pocket and tossing it to me. “It died. I was talking to my sister. Magic or not, the battery needs to be charged.” Clearing her throat, she motioned toward her wolf, who was resting in front of the fireplace while she dried off. “I’m never alone. I always have Nova, and we know how to take care of ourselves.”
Every part of me struggled to find the right way to convey my concerns without sending her into a panic. She’d already lived so long under Mathis’s cruelty. I wouldn’t let him have that power over her while living here. I could protect her. I held the phone in my hand, considering the magic used to make it work. I’d just get her a better one. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself. “I didn’t know where you were, and you’d been gone too long. Next time, I just need to know where you’re going. And with whom.”
She shook her head. “You said I could roam the grounds. That I was free to explore. Don’t turn this around and give me stipulations. We can agree to a lot of things, but I’m not going to let you control me.” Danni pointed toward the window. “You sent a group of soldiers to look for me so they could drag me in and stand in front of you in a public hallway while you chastised me for not leaving you a note?”
“That’s not what happened. I left the room, and you were asleep. When I came back, you were gone. This has nothing to do with control.” Irritation leaked into my voice at her accusation. Why would she even think I wanted power over her? I’d done nothing to convey that.
“I think we have different definitions of what it means to be controlling,” she said, staring at me with a flat expression. She pressed her fingertips to her temples, rubbing in circles. “Look, I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind. I don’t want to argue about it. I just don’t like feeling shamed for calling my sister and taking a walk. You were worried. Okay. You don’t need to act like an overprotective Alphahole just to get people’s attention on us. I know we want them to believe we’re bonded, and they do. We’ve done a good job. We’ve done a lot in public to lead them to believe we’re together. But this? The whole act of panicked hugging and sending a royal guard to find me? I don’t know how to react to stuff like that. It was over the top, especially if we’re just pretending.”
She may as well have slapped me. It would have stung less than the words that had come from her mouth. The “whole act”? That was how she viewed me? My stomach tightened, and a knot filled my throat. “Is that what all of this is to you?”
Danni stared at me, her brows scrunching as she looked around. “What do you mean, ‘Is that what this is to me’?” She crossed her arms, leaning to one side. “You’re the one who came up with the plan to be pretend mates. It was your idea. I don’t know what else to call it?”
“My idea,” I repeated, nodding gently, letting it soak in. “That it was.”
My nostrils flared as I exhaled through my nose. How could I have been so stupid? Was she that good of an actress and I just hadn’t seen it before? Everything? The physical attraction and flirtation had all been part of the ruse? Like studying for a part she had to play. She was just doing the homework? I’d been gushing over her like a lovesick fool, thinking about what I could do to spend more time with her. How to make her happy. What I could do to be with her. If she could carelessly throw out that we were nothing more than pretend—beyond the mate story—then I’d read into all of it.
I was falling in love with a woman who didn’t feel the same.
Fuck me.
My jaw tightened as I clenched my teeth, the intensity of the pressure threatening to crack them. “My apologies for the misunderstanding.”
“Are we . . . good?” she asked, uncrossing her arms so she could fidget with her hands.
“We’re just fine,” I said, forcing myself to smile. She nodded quickly, toying with the ring that hung around her neck. Then blew out a breath as though she were preparing herself for something.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about what happened . . . when I was in heat,” she said. My eyes shot to the bed where we’d been not twelve hours before. A flush crept up her neck, tinting her cheeks pink. She looked away, unable to make eye contact. “I spent some time thinking, and I, um, I said some things . . . things I wouldn’t have said otherwise, and honestly, it wasn’t?—”
“There’s no need to explain it,” I said, jutting my chin out. I’d spent the better part of the day thinking about what we’d shared in bed together. Wondering if she’d felt anything from it or if the words had been at all real. But that would only happen if she felt anything between us at all—and we were just pretending. What she’d said and done while in heat had all been induced by the heat itself. I just couldn’t bear to hear her say it. “It was business. Nothing more.”
Her lips parted, and a small crease formed between her brows before she nodded. “Well, I guess that’s that,” she said softly.
“Anything else? I have somewhere to be,” I said, trying to keep my tone even. She didn’t understand. There was no way for her to know what I had witnessed in Jordan’s mind. The foreshadowing of her death wasn’t filling her mind with poison. And I wouldn’t let her carry that burden. It was what Mathis wanted. I’d go deal with it, and she’d be none the wiser.
“Elias,” she started, inhaling while considering her words. She grimaced, tilting her head to the side before she gestured between us. “This doesn’t feel right.”
“That’s because none of this is real,” I said without thinking, mimicking the same motion she had just used to point at herself and then me. Even I heard the cruelty in my voice, and I knew she didn’t deserve it. Instant regret sent a shot of adrenaline through my veins, but it was too late. I couldn’t take it back. Danni’s eyes widened, and her lips separated slightly. She recovered from her shock, dropping her arms to her sides. She balled her hands into fists, clenching and unclenching them. “Danni, I?—”
“You’re an asshole.” She turned on a heel, heading for a dresser I’d put in our room just for her.
“Let me explain,” I said as I followed her, my heavy footsteps sounding louder than I meant them to.
