“As I told you,” he said, his chest gone subtly tight, even at the suggestion, “I no longer ride. Isn’t the reason obvious?”
He knew what he was doing with that last bit. Most people would rather poke an eye out than directly address the reality of his injuries.
Artemis shook her head. She wasn’t one of those people. “It’s not obvious.”
How quickly she was reminding him of who she was.
Leave it, he wanted to shout. Instead, his voice gone cold to mask rising heat, he said, “I nearly lost my leg.”
She blinked, as if her nerve might be failing her. “I’m aware.”
“Isn’t that answer enough?”
“It’s not.” She spoke the words almost apologetically. “If you can walk, and if you can swim, you can ride.”
In fact, Bran realized,henumbered amongst those who would rather poke an eye out than directly address the reality of his injuries.
A change of subject was in order.
Now that the past had surfaced—and kept resurfacing—he needed to pursue something. Something that had been niggling in a far corner of his mind. “My brother,” he began before he talked himself out of it.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Your brother?” Her brow furrowed. “As inStoke?”
“You didn’t marry him.”
Even as he spoke the words, a sudden wave of fury washed through him.
He might be able to forgive himself and this woman for their long-past youth—and the folly that followed.
But forthis, he found he hadn’t.
And possibly never would.
For it hadn’t been the mere loss of her.
It had been the loss of a dream—the loss ofthem.
CHAPTER NINE
For the next three interminable seconds, Artemis considered the possibility that the wind was playing tricks on her ears.
But, no.
You didn’t marry him.
Those were the words that had issued from Bran’s mouth.
And that was Bran standing before her, waiting for an answer like he deserved one.
“Why would I have married your brother when I thought I would marry?—”
No.
The next word would not leave her mouth.
She’d known he would be here—and this was what she deserved for not keeping away.
She needed to leave.
