“You think you get to drop that bomb and then walk away?” He pointed down toward the Great Hall a floor below.
The first sparks of anger flashed in her eyes. “Just do it already.”
“Do what?”
“Walk away.”
“You’re the one who walked away. Literally. We all watched you.”
She slapped her suitcase closed. “Stop pretending you aren’t getting ready to break my heart again.”
“Why would I?—”
“Because it’s your fault.” Her voice turned vicious. “The thing you feared, the thing that made you abandon me again and again… It’s real. It’s happening.”
Something icy settled in his stomach because she was right.
My love will be the reason she dies.
“He tortured me. Turned me into a prisoner in my own home. All because of you. Because you loved me.” Nikolett letout a bitter laugh. “You wouldn’t admit you loved me, but he knew. He saw it. And he decided to use me against you.”
Nikolett stalked toward him, merciless and powerful. The ruthless goddess once more. “Your wives’ deaths, Josephine’s death, those weren’t your fault. But this? What happened to me? The ways I’ve suffered? Your fault. He hurt mebecause of you.”
Each word was a spike being driven into him, a flash of panic accompanying each stab of pain.
Nikolett got close enough, she had to tip her head back to meet his gaze.
“And now you’re going to leave me because this, I, am your greatest fear. Your nightmare. Except you aren’t sleeping.”
This close, he saw what was behind the anger. He saw the anguish in her eyes.
She was mourning him, despite the fact that he was standing right in front of her.
This. This was his fault. He’d taught her that when love was difficult or scary, he’d run and leave her alone.
Eric leaned down, nose to nose with her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
That made her breath catch, her voice quaver. “You will. Maybe not right now, but in a week, a month, it will be too much, and?—”
“And if I start to feel like that, I’ll go back to therapy.”
Nikolett blinked, and a tear slid down her cheek. She swiped it away. “I’m not going to wait around for that to happen. I’m leaving.”
Eric smiled. “No, you’re not.”
“Not the island. Not right now.”
No, she’d wait until tonight. He was sure that was what Grigoris had been looking at—she’d texted him to ask him to get her out of here.
“But I’m not staying here with you.”
“You are.”
“Eric, don’t. Don’t pretend like you aren’t starting to drown in fear and guilt. I’ve known since the moment he said those words to me that I’d lost you. The last two days have been borrowed time.”
She retreated, her shoulders slumping. With a few quick jerks, she zipped her suitcase. “There’s no way our love survives this.”
Her final watery words almost broke him. He wondered if she was right. If he would start waking from nightmares. New, more vivid, horrors.
