The arrow hit its mark. Caelan’s chest rumbled. “Rachel.”
She turned those wicked eyes to him. “Yes, darling.”
I felt my lips pull back from my teeth. The glasses on the table rattled together, and I knew I was about to lose it. “I just wanted to come by and make sure you knew what you were doing.” I gave him a tight smile. “It looks like you do.”
“Evie—” Caelan put his napkin on the table and made to stand.
“No, that’s really unnecessary.” I tilted my head in acknowledgment. “I would have appreciated a text or a phone call, but maybe this is better.”
Seeing him touch someone with so much propriety had ripped my heart in two, but it had ripped the film off my eyes. Seeing this with my own two eyes told me he’d made a choice. And maybe if I hadn’t seen this, he would have kept me on the line and Rachel as well, though I know, even though I thought she was a massive twat, that she wouldn’t stand for being second choice either.
“Would you like to stay?” Rachel asked. “Caelan and I are discussing future plans for the Keep.”
Another clever knife stab. “No thanks. I have someone waiting for me in the car. Can’t keep them waiting for much longer.”
“Who?” Caelan’s storm-colored eyes met mine.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll have Simone pack up the things I left over there and drop them off.” I inclined my head to both of them. “I wish you the best of luck.”
Caelan didn’t fight for himself or me. He made no excuses and didn’t deny what I was seeing or how it would affect us. And that made it so much worse. I tried not to cry as I turned to go.
“Evie. Wait.” Caelan rose and walked over, taking me by the elbow. He led me over to the restroom area and stood so close I pressed myself against the wall.
“Are you going to tell me this isn’t what it looks like?”
“She’s a shifter.” Stab. “We’re better suited to each other.” Stab. “I never meant to hurt you.” Stab.
I swallowed hard, refusing to let him see me cry. “All those times you fought for us. All those times I told you why we shouldn’t be together, and you make me discover you out on the town with another woman without giving me the courtesy of at least telling me beforehand? This is a small town. Everyone is going to know what this is.”
“I thought we could make it work.” His words were soft, but there was no real fire behind them. His expression wasn’t hurt or wounded. Caelan sounded like he was speaking to a friend and not someone he loved.
Every time he spoke, his words made another jagged wound in my soul.
“But you and I…we aren’t compatible enough to produce heirs.”
I froze. “Excuse me?”
“Rachel is a shifter. Born and pure blooded. Your blood is tainted.” His words were so…flat and unemotional. This was not the man I loved.
My hand clenched into a fist. “Do you hear yourself? The horrible things you’re saying to me? You never accused me of being tainted before. What changed?”
“Everything,” Caelan said simply. “We’ve always had difficulty in our relationships because we come from two different worlds.” He lowered his voice. “You revealed yourself as a Chimera and became heir to the Fae King. I am a Lord. What path forward do we have?”
Every word was a stone pelting against my skin. “Why did you ask me to marry you?”
Caelan’s brow furrowed. He blinked a few times, opened his mouth, and snapped it shut. The next word he said made everything inside me shut down. “Honor.”
“Honor,” I said hoarsely. “You felt duty bound to make me your wife?”
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “That’s what one does in a relationship, the natural order of things.”
I didn’t know this man standing before me. He looked like Caelan. He smelled like Caelan. But the Caelan I knew would never have spoken to me this way. The man I loved loved me. Or I thought he had.
“I see. And Rachel?”
“We’ve had our differences before, but a match with her is advantageous.”
The ground rumbled under my feet.
