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Rupert rubbed his hands slowly in the corner of my eye. “What are you talking about? How can I not be here after what Ossian did to you?”
“Like I said,” I replied, still refusing to meet his eyes, “it’s bigger than us and we have to walk away from it.”
Rupert strode towards me and I recoiled into the back of the sofa, pulling him up short. “It’s me, Vivian,” he said, with a note of desperation. “I would never hurt you.”
I tightened my grip around my middle and closed my eyes. It was too much. Having Rupert standing just a couple of feet away from me but with a barrier of pain now hovering between us, tore me in two.
“He will pay for what he’s done to you. You have my word.”
I huffed out a sharp breath. “Yeah, so you keep saying.”
In a beat he was on his knees before me, forcing my eyes to dart in any direction but his. “I’m not going to wait any longer, Vivian.” He spoke with urgency, as though he was willing me to believe that this time what he was saying was true. “I’m bringing everything forward. Bas is over; it’s done. No one knows that yet, but our crops are in decline and we certainly won’t be getting any more supply for a while, or ever. I’m ending this, Vivian. The marriage too.”
I tried to summon my thoughts on the opinion with some conviction, but despite the fact I really didn’t want him to throw away all the progress he’d made, I simply couldn’t bring myself to care. The shock of what happened to me in the crypt had turned me into a different person with a whole different set of priorities. Namely, get off the island, get a shrink, get a life well away from Crow, the Thorns and Rupert. Even knowing the truth about his family wasn’t enough to bend me to him now.
I reached down the side of the sofa and pulled out the envelope Adele had entrusted me with.
“I didn’t come here to rekindle our flame, Rupert. I came to give you this.”
I held out the envelope, snatching my hand back when he took it. His eyes held mine as he ripped the top and withdrew the papers, then he cast his gaze down to the words. Minty side-stepped around the back of the sofa and rested a hand on my shoulder, making me jump. I was a bag of nerves. Her breath skimmed across my neck as we both watched Rupert’s expression remain blank. After several minutes, he folded the papers, pushed them back inside the envelope and looked directly at me.
“Do you know what these papers are?” His voice was firm but not accusatory.
I nodded.
“Where did you get them?”
“Adele.”
I felt Minty’s head spin towards me. Rupert simply nodded.
“Why didn’t she bring them back here herself?”
“There isn’t anyone on the island she loves enough to risk coming back here for,” I said. Minty’s hand stiffened.
Rupert looked back at me hopefully. “But for you there is?”
“Was.”
His face registered nothing but his neck throbbed as he swallowed. “I feel the same way about you as I always have, Vivian. Nothing’s changed between us,” he said, his voice grave.
Was he joking? Had we been in two different crypts that morning? I balled my hands and thumped them into the sofa. “Everything’s changed!” I cried.
He raised his own voice until it thundered through the room. “Not for me, it hasn’t. I will never look at you differently, Vivian. What happened today, what he did to you, it wasn’t your fault.”
I began to shake my head. I didn’t want to hear it.
“Vivian, please…” he curled his fingers around mine, trying to prise my armour from around my torso. “You know what this means? These papers? I have no loyalty anymore, to my father, the Consortium, the island. Not even Elspeth. Hell, those vows I just said? These papers make them null and void, because I’m not even the man whose signature is scrawled on the fucking register.”
“What are you talking about?” Minty’s voice sailed over my head and Rupert’s black eyes darted to her.
“I’m not a Thorn,” he replied. “I’m not related to my father or Ossian. I’m not even Consortium blood.”
Minty’s gasp filled the room and she clapped her hand over her mouth yet again. “But—”
I knew the question she wanted to ask but couldn’t because it wasn’t any of her business, and it could shatter foundations.
Rupert breathed out a long sigh. “Neither is Hector.”
