She is the one person I should never have to don a mask in front of. And yet here we both are, hiding our true selves from one another.
“We should go. We need to leave, Cate.” The words are hushedand harsh. I don’t know how long I can make this performance last, and I refuse to give Lady M the satisfaction of seeing me break.
“You should go, Callum.” She steps away from me, gently pulling her hands from mine.
My brow creases, confusion marring this flawed mask I’ve dropped into place. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“There is no more reason for you to stay.” She smirks, tilting up the corner of her perfect lips, lips that have trailed over every inch of my body. “The ruse is over, Callum.”
My hands clench into tight fists at my sides. “What the hell are you talking about?”
She laughs, too high-pitched. “We both know that’s all this was. You came to see me under false pretenses, I made you fall in love with me to make sure you weren’t the one to kill your father, and now the game is up.”
“False pretenses? What are you talking about, Cate? You know that’s not what this is.” I lower my voice, a stark reminder we are not alone here in this damp hallway. I’m not willing to give Lady M any more than she has already taken from me. “We’re Bonded.”
She throws her head back with laughter, and it’s vibrant and boisterous and rings completely false. “You believed that?” She reaches up to pat my cheek. “Oh, you are a dear one, Callum Reid.”
I push her hand away and even though her words are stinging barbs, I miss the touch of her instantly. “Are you really going to stand here and tell me that all of this has been for nothing? My sister died, and it was all for nothing?” My voice cracks, and the tears I’ve been fighting back spring into my eyes. The mask is slipping and I know I don’t have much time left to get out of here before I completely lose it.
Cate swallows thickly, like she is fighting back tears of her own. “I think it’s best if you leave,” she whispers.
Something is not right here. I don’t know what game she is playing, but I know that what we have is not all in my head. Yes, Cate makes a living pretending to be interested in her clients, but what we have is different.
It has to be.
I look her dead in the eyes, knowing she will never be able to do what I’m about to ask of her. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me, and I will leave right now and never come back.”
Her breath stills in her lungs, her eyes flickering with a hundred different emotions.
She can’t say it. I know she can’t. It would kill me to even think it.
She pushes her shoulders back. “I don’t love you, Callum. I never did.”
What’s left of my heart shatters.
I nod, dashing my clenched fists across my cheeks to clear away my tears. It’s time for me to go. Who knows how long it’s going to take me to fully process the events of the day, but the one thing I do know is I don’t want to be in the presence of Lady M when the emotions rise to the surface.
Then I remember that Cate is not the only one keeping secrets.
I lean in, as if to give her one final hug. I don’t think I can bear it, her citrus scent igniting something inside me, but I know she needs to hear this, even if I owe her nothing more. “Harold is alive. Alex has taken him back to the safe house. You might not want anything more to do with me, but I think you might want to hear what he has to say.” My eyes dart behind her, to where Lady M is watching. I make my next words loud enough for the whole stone fortress to hear. “I knew I should have never put my faith in a Gifted courtesan. I was right about you all along.”
A small part of me hopes my words cut her as deeply as hers did me. But the thought of hurting Cate doesn’t make me feel anybetter. If anything, it only widens the hole in my chest where my heart used to be.
I’m leaving it with her.
I turn on my heel, stalking out of the fortress without a look back.
Harold knows more than he is telling me. I can feel the change in him. I can feel the change in myself. I no longer ache for him, long for him like I used to. It’s like somehow our Bond has been broken, though I didn’t know such a thing was even possible.
I don’t miss the babies—three girls, if Diana is to be trusted—but I miss what they could be. What we could have been together.
I will find a way to replace them.
—excerpt from the journal of Grecia MacVeigh
27
Cate
