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“Did you find out who gave her this idea in the first place?” Instead of talking to her reflection, I turn to Carmen and ask her directly.
The sides of her lips hook into a bowed smile. “You have meddlesome men in your employ.” Carmen pauses like I need to brace for what else she has to say. And I’m right. Her power punches to the gut make my insides hurt.
“Your wife is a precious treasure and I agree with your friend. You’ve hurt her. Now you need to see how you fix it. You’ve spilled blood in her name, now it’s time to heal wounds. Don’t ruin what I believe is the last chance you have at happiness, Stone. Only bloodshed and violence can’t mar your family’s legacy. You are better than your brother. You have the power to end that with her and your child.” She turns to leave the room and pauses at the door. “When this light turns green, it is a signal that she is ready for you to join her in room seven-one-three.”
With that my old friend leaves us, her words pressing heavy on my heart.
I’m content with standing in silence, but Samuel always had trouble staying quiet. “She’s right, you know.”
“You aren’t doing so bad at chewing my ass out either. Not once have any of you considered the reasoning behind my actions. Wait until you have a wife and your enemies rise from the earth like fucking demons with a thirst for your lover’s blood.”
Samuel stays silent. Marriage isn’t in the cards for him and I hate feeling like I’m rubbing salt in his wounds.
“Brother, I’m sorry. I just…fuck!” I rake my fingers through my hair and brace my forearms on the wall by the light that has yet to turn green. “If this had happened last week, I would have had no choice but to walk away. The Callahans?—”
“——are out of the picture now,” he cuts in. “You took care of the problem. You either clean up your mess and reclaim your wife or let me do it. She deserves someone who will treat her like the queen she is.”
My temper threatens to flare at the harshness of his tone but more so at the meaning behind his words.
I slowly push off the wall and turn to my lifelong best friend.
“You think I’m not good enough for her.” It’s not a question, but he answers all the same.
“I know you are not, brother. No one with blood on their hands is worth a pureness like her as their wife. We are here tonight because she’s realized the same thing. She’s moving on. How are you going to win someone back when they are already out the door?”
“Maybe I should let her go. She doesn’t know the true darkness inside me. The ugly beast we share. I have kept parts of me from her.”
“I know and I can’t blame not wanting to share a treasure like her.”
Sharing lovers between us was never about our pleasure but about taking a woman to the cusp of heaven and then bringing her slowly back. The euphoria of giving another human soul that experience is injected with arrogance and a darker desire to control another’s pleasure. It’s not something I ever thought of introducing Amethyst to.
“You have a choice to make, brother. You don’t have to show her that side of you. Let it die and go make her fall in love with you again.”
“I can’t walk in there. I’ve been gone for months.”
“I doubt there are weapons in the room. She will not shoot you the second you walk in.”
Samuel’s smile does nothing for the acid splashing around in my gut. Bitterness yawns and stretches inside me as reality takes hold.
“Don’t throw away this chance to get your wife back, Oliver.”
I can feel the pain and longing in my friend’s tone. Having Amethyst as a wife is my dream come true even if I don’t deserve her sweetness and kind heart. My friend hasn’t been so lucky. Our families keep us tied to our thrones.
A reassuring hand settles over my shoulder. I angle my head to the side to find my friend looking at me like he gives a damn about my future. “Or… you show her and let her decide for herself. What is dark to one might not be as taboo to another as one might think.”
I drop my head back and let my eyes close. I picture her sleeping form and the way I left her the last time I saw her. “She’s so damn innocent and pure.”
Samuel sighs heavily. “That doesn’t make someone incapable of wanting more. Damn, Oliver. She’s not a child.”
I crack a sideways grin and open my eyes to look at him. “I’ve known you for decades. Since when did you become the wiser one of the two of us?”
Samuel laughs roughly and then silence fills the space between. For a long moment the only sound is our deep breathing. I stare into the empty room through the two-way mirror and wait.
“Not to rub salt in the wound, but since you asked, I’m going to tell you what no one else dares to mutter in your direction.”
Samuel’s voice holds an edge to it that cuts. I grit my teeth and bear the pain.
“You should have left the Callahans alone. I could have taken care of them for you and you didn’t have to leave your wife for months. You made your choice because you feared being married and didn’t know how to handle the responsibility.”
