She will be safe.
She will be loved by a god who has never made her cry.
The book fell from Devyn’s hands.
He stood in that pocket of Hewhay, surrounded by warmth and soft light and the smell of books that Bailey would have loved, and he understood.
This was what she deserved.
Someone who didn’t break her heart in front of the entire household staff. Someone who didn’t make her cry. Someone who could protect her without destroying her in the process.Someone she had already loved, for years, before she ever stumbled into his world.
He wasn’t competing with just another man.
He wasn’t even competing with a god.
He was competing with her heart’s first choice. The one she’d picked a hundred times over. The hero of the story she’d used to escape every time life became unbearable.
Paul Theodore was the love story Bailey wanted.
Devyn Chaleur was just the one she’d gotten by accident.
A bitter laugh scraped out of his throat.
Why hadn’t Hewhay just told him straight? Why the games, the doors, the books that showed him exactly how inadequate he was? If the universe preferred a literal god for Bailey, it could have justsaidso. Could have kept her from ever stumbling into his chapel in the first place.
But no.
Hewhay had let him have her. Let him marry her. Let him fall so completely that he couldn’t breathe without thinking of her.
And then shown him this.
The door behind him shimmered. An exit. A way back to his world, his territory, his still-living fiancée who wasn’t Bailey and never would be.
He didn’t move.
Because there was one more line of text appearing on the book’s final page. Ink spreading like blood, words forming that hadn’t been there before.
Unless.
Devyn’s breath stopped.
Unless you fight for her.
Unless you become someone worth choosing.
Unless you prove that the dangerous choice can also be the right one.
The words faded as quickly as they’d appeared.
But Devyn had already made his decision.
He was a man who decided. That was who he was. Not brooding, not conflicted, not hesitating while he wrestled with feelings. When he wanted something, he took it. When there was a problem, he solved it.
And he wanted Bailey.
He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything. More than his territory. More than his crown. More than the safety of walls that kept everyone at a distance.
She was his wife. His queen. His.
