Riley stared at me. Her eyes were overflowing now, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You’re in love with me,” she whispered.
“Yes.” No hesitation. “I’m in love with you. Completely and desperately. In a way I didn’t know I was capable of.” I brushed another tear away. “You’re not just my mate, Riley. You’re the woman Ilove. Those are different things, and they’re both true.”
She was trembling. I could feel it under my hand, the fine tremor running through her body.
“Get out,” she said.
The words landed like a knife between my ribs.Not again.
“Riley...”
“I need...” She was shaking her head, stepping back, wrapping her arms around herself. “I need to think. Please. Just... get out.”
I walked out again. I didn’t argue or push or try to convince her. She asked me to leave, so I left. Sat down right outside her door, and waited.
Time passed. I didn’t know how much. I was slumped against her door, exhausted, drained, running on fumes. Inside the apartment, I could hear her pacing and could almost hear her thinking.
I heard her say my name once. Quietly, to herself. Like she was testing the shape of it.
Then nothing.
I must have drifted off at some point, because the next thing I knew, the door behind me was opening and I was falling backward. I landed on the floor of her apartment, staring up at Riley, who was looking down at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
“You’re still here,” she said.
“I told you.” My voice was rough from disuse. “I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
“You look like shit.”
“I used a compulsion, earlier. It takes a lot out of me.”
“What compulsion?”
I shouldn’t tell her. It wasn’t exactly legal, even in Lytopia. But I was done hiding things.
“I made Damien forget,” I said. “Everything. His name, his life, his memories. I made him forget you ever existed and sent him away. He won’t bother you again.”
Riley’s eyes went wide.
“You can do that?”
“It’s forbidden magic. Ancient. It nearly killed me the only other time I used it.” I held her gaze. “I would use it a thousand times to keep you safe.”
She was quiet for a long moment. Processing this new information. Adding it to the pile.
“Get inside,” she said finally. “Now.”
The command in her voice sent a thrill through me. I scrambled to my feet, probably looking ridiculous, and followed her into the apartment. She closed the door behind me.
We stood in her living room, facing each other. The air was dense with everything that had passed between us. The revelations, the confessions, the fear and hope and love that had been building since the moment I saw her.
“Is there anything else?” Riley asked. “Anything else you’re hiding?”
I steeled myself. I was done hiding things. If she was going to accept me, it had to be all of me. Even the parts that would make her angry.
“Recently I hired lawyers. The best I could find.” My heart was pounding but I forced my tone to stay level. “They’re building a case against Damien for the contract he trapped you in, the percentage, the manipulation. All of it. I wanted to free you from him legally, not just... physically.”
