“Elowyn?” Della’s voice broke Abram’s focus on the woman.
I hadn’t looked away from him, even as he stood and turned toward me. His gaze lingered on me, as if he had never seen me before. His brows pinched together in confusion before his eyes darted toward the dark sky. Why did he look so lost? Did he truly not remember… me?
Gods, I hadn’t even realized I had walked closer to the table, my feet moving without thought, drawn to him even as my chest ached.
Abram’s eyes softened, and then filled with guilt. “What are you doing here, Elowyn?” he asked.
I swallowed hard, the lump of emotions threatening to choke me. The hum of the gathering faded into nothing, and all I could hear was the pounding of my heart.
“You didn’t show up,” I said, forcing as much calm into my voice as I could.
No one said a word. The space between us felt unbearably charged. Every eye at the table lingered on us, but I only saw Abram. His brows pinched again, tighter this time, and his gaze flitted around the dark sky like he was grasping for something he had lost.
“Wait… what time is it?” he asked, voice slightly panicked.
He rubbed his forehead, teeth grinding together, like he was trying to pull back the memory of me from some hidden corner of his mind.
“Shit, sorry, time slipped away from me. I swear I was planning on coming.”
I nodded, forcing myself to meet his gaze while my heart twisted. My eyes flickered to the woman watching him closely. Her presence burned in my chest, but his attention shifted briefly to her, and then back to me, as if the universe had pulled us into this impossible orbit together.
“You promised me.”
The words scraped out of me, raw and shaking.
“I know. We can go now.” He started toward me, relief flickering over his features, until the woman came up behind him and wrapped her hand around his arm.
“Abe, you can’t leave me here,” she muttered. “I don’t know anyone.”
My focus snapped to her fingers curled around him. A white-hot bolt of jealousy tore through me so violently my breath caught. She held him like she had a right to. Like she belonged at his side.
“Get your hands off of him,” I snapped, the words edged with something feral and uncontrollable.
She tensed, eyes darting from me to Abram. Instead of letting go, her griptightened.The insult of it struck me deeper than any blade. I took a step toward her, ready to rip her hand away myself, but Abram’s arm came up between us.
“Don’t,” he warned, firm and almost desperate. “I will go with you to the coven.”
He turned and leaned in to whisper something to the woman, too soft for me to hear, yet whatever he said made her nod and step back, finally giving us space. It didn’t matter; my blood was still boiling.
“I begged the coven to give you more time to show up. I told them that you would never stand me up. I was sick with worry, Abram. I thought you had been hurt or wounded!”
My anger surged outward, rattling the dishes on the long table. Several of his family members stiffened, but I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t breathe. Guilt flickered in Abram’s eyes, but it only fueled the ache inside me.
“Do you know what that was like? To be accused that I had made up this man completely. You were supposed to show up for me tonight. It was the most important day in my life, and you forgot!”
Abram didn’t speak. He didn’t do anything. He just stood there, staring at me with a lost, devastated expression as I completely unraveled in front of everyone he loved.
“Then I get here, and you’re eating food with some fucking woman?” I sneered, the betrayal sharp enough to taste.
His eyes widened, darting rapidly between me and the others, panic rising like he was trapped in a nightmare he didn’t understand.
“I… Elowyn, I don’t even remember today. I swear… gods, I don’t remember what I was supposed to do.”
The floor dropped out from under me.
“Are you that embarrassed of me?” I asked, voice breaking as the question, my worst fear, escaped before I could stop it.
“No, Elowyn, please; it’s not like that.” He stepped toward me, desperation in every line of his body, but I moved back before he could touch me. “I swear I was going to come, but I got caught up, and time slipped away. I swear it was unintentional.”
