“I think this is the time we exit. Good luck.” Lia squeezed my arm, and Munroe nodded to us both. They ducked inside, closing the kitchen door behind them, leaving Luch and me standing in the light of the almost full moon.
My heart pounded in my chest. I needed answers, because I knew, knew in my very soul that there was something going on here that he wasn’t telling me. And, while, yes, I still had some things to share with him about the Order of Caledonia, it still didn’t change what he knew of who I was as a person.
Yet I felt like whatever he was holding back would change my view of him forever.
“Just tell me. Please,” I whispered. I didn’t want to beg, but I couldn’t go on—not if there were massive secrets between us.
“I can’t.” Luch looked at me, his eyes burning. “I … I can’t, Faelan. I’m sorry.”
“Of course. Family stuff. And I’m not family, am I?” Hurt whiplashed through me, and I picked up my handbag from the table.
“It’s not … I can’t.” Frustrated, Luch fell into stride beside me. Heat radiated from him, and I wanted nothing more than to cuddle into him in the cool night air. Instead, I clenched my arms around my body, stepping farther away from him as I pounded down the path toward my flat. “Faelan. Please, just listen. It’s not my place. I just can’t share, okay?”
“And I’m supposed to just accept that? I’m supposed to accept that you have some massive family secret thatbrought your entire family here to try and buy me off to stay away from you? And then what? What happens if I do accept that? Where do we go from here?”
“I … I don’t know.” Luch’s face was miserable. “Back to our happy bubble? I don’t want to lose you, Faelan.”
“But the happy bubble isn’t real.” My voice rose, and I continued down the path, glad I had stuck with my instincts to wear flats, my feet slapping the pavement angrily as I walked. “I loved it, too, Luch. But it’s not real, is it? It never was. It never can be. Not when there are all these secrets.”
“I just …” Luch stopped me, his hands at my shoulders, and turned me to him. “Can you give me time? Can I ask that of you? A favor?”
Wary, I looked up at him.
“Do you understand that?”
“We think it would be best if you remove yourself from Luch’s life.”Those words. I’d heard them so many times before.
“We think it would be best if you leave town. Permanently.”
“You are not welcome here, and you need to leave.”
“Remove yourself from this town or I’ll light the bonfire myself.”
They had stung. But his father’s spiteful, detestable offer…
“We’re prepared to make you a deal.”
“I’ve spent my life being run from one town to the next, forever the outcast. Can you even imagine how that felt, to me, to be assaulted like that tonight? By your own family?” I held a hand to my chest, and my eyes stung with unshedtears. “I don’t need them to accept me, but for them to offer me money? How could you have told them about me, Luch? There’s no way they would have acted like that if I was just a normal person. Is there?”
Luch’s lips thinned, and my heart cracked.
“You did, didn’t you? You told them about me…” Betrayal sliced through me. I’d expected too much of him, it seemed, when it came to keeping my secrets.
“I swear I didn’t, Faelan. But when you’d first arrived, I might have had a conversation with my father about my suspicions about the new vet in town. But that was it, I swear to you. I’ve never even told them I was dating anyone.”
Now I was conflicted. Should I be annoyed he’d kept me a secret or frustrated that he was keeping secrets from me? Everything swirled around in my brain and when my tears almost spilled over, I decided.
What I needed to do was go home alone and breathe.
I needed Gloam.
I needed my cozy, wee flat.
And I needed to be alone.
It was what I was used to—not relying on anyone—and until I could work through the multifaceted and unsettling feelings from a situation where I didn’t have all the information, there wasn’t much else I could do.
“I’m going home. Alone.” I held up a hand when Luch went to speak. “I have no idea how I feel about any of this, other than hurt. And I’m not even sure of all the reasons I’m hurt, because I don’t have all the facts. But what I do know is that I didn’t like whatever that was. And until you get the situation with your family sorted out, I’m not surewhat future wecanhave together, because the one thing I won’t compromise on is my safety. And tonight? Your family made me feel unsafe. As did you.”
