“It’s nothing,” I tell Saint.
He shoves Bill out of the way and steps into me. “Don’t give me that shit, Haidyn!” he snaps. “I’m not in the fucking mood.” His voice rises. “Tell me the fucking truth.”
“Saint?” Ryat barks, grabbing his arms and trying to pull him back, but he doesn’t budge.
“No,” Saint shouts in my face. “You fucking owe me that!” His finger pokes my chest.
“He doesn’t owe you anything,” Adam’s voice calls out as he comes down the hallway.
“Adam—” I raise my hand to tell him it’s okay and look at Saint. “Ash was supposed to be my chosen.” The moment the words leave my mouth, I feel lighter. I’ve been carrying around a secret for so long I didn’t know how much it weighed until now.
“Fuck you, Haidyn!” He goes to swing, but this time, Sin steps in as well, and they’re both able to pull him back.
A part of me is disappointed. A fist to the face sounds good right now. So I step forward, closing the space. “I didn’t want her,” I shout, getting pissy but not sure why. Maybe because it’s like them thinking I’ve been suicidal all this time—no one fucking believes me. “I knew how much you loved her, and I’d never take her from you,” I add.
“Bullshit…”
“It’s true.”
Sin and Ryat let him go and he turns around to see a very sleepy-looking Ashtyn standing in the hallway. Her watery eyes go from mine to her husband’s.
“You knew this?” he asks her in disbelief.
“I’ve always loved you, Ashtyn,”I tell her while on our way to dinner.
“Haidyn—”
I feel I need to explain. I didn’t take her out to dinner to make her uncomfortable. “Not in the sisterly love sort of way because that would be gross. Considering I’ve fucked you.” My eyes drop to her crossed legs, and she shifts in her seat. “Also, not enough to want to spend the rest of my life with you.” She frowns, and I chuckle. “Romantic, right? You were supposed to be my chosen.”
Ashtyn nods,answering her husband. “I did.”
I never had the chance to finish that conversation we started in the SUV before we were hit and both kidnapped. But I know she believed me. I’d never lie to her about something like that.
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
She gives Saint a soft smile. “Because it wouldn’t have changed anything.” Her hands go to her growing belly, and she’stelling him the same thing he said to her. If one of the babies isn’t his, it won’t change their future—their family.
He turns to look at me and then back at her. “That doesn’t excuse Haidyn?—”
“Goddammit, Saint!” Adam interrupts him.
“Adam.” I shake my head. Enough has been said.
“No.” He looks at me. “I’m so fucking tired of this shit.” Adam turns to face Saint. “If you need to blame someone, blame me.”
“I already do, Adam. But while we’re on the subject, how the fuck did you know so much?” he demands, stepping toward Adam, but Ashtyn wraps her arm around his waist to keep him back. “You sure know a lot of shit for someone who has been MIA for so long.”
“Because I was here when all of our fathers told him that he would take Ashtyn as his Lady, and he denied her. He refused. Over and over.” Adam’s voice rises. “And they gave him no choice. Told him they’d force them to marry if need be.”
“Lady?” Ashtyn looks at me wide-eyed.
Well, this is just getting better and better.I was never going to tell her that.
“He wanted to tell you, and I told him I’d take care of it.”
“No.” Saint runs his hand over the back of his neck, confused. “That doesn’t make sense…your father let me take her as a chosen…why would he allow that if he was going to make Haidyn marry her?”
Saint always had plans to marry her. We all knew he’d spend the rest of his life with her.
