“Yes, sir.”
He walks off with the menagerie man, leaving me alone with Trawick.
My friend cocks his head at me. “You look like shit.”
“Thank you.”
“Rough night, I assume?”
I rub my hands and two chairs appear. I don’t have the energy to walk to the table on the far end of the meadow.
I sit. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough.” Trawick takes the second chair and drapes his arm over the back. “If it’s any consolation?—”
“I don’t want consolation. I don’t want anything.”
“Yet you called me.”
“I did.”
He glances around the lawn. “Where is she?”
“I sent her back.”
His brows lift. “Did you find another way to?—”
“No, I did not find another way to break the joining.”
He sighs, his shoulders falling. Then he watches me for a long minute before finally saying, “Feylin, I’m sorry. You wanted to give her that rose, I know. I know you…loved her.” His voice drops. “I know how hard this must be for you.”
I don’t say it, but no, he doesn’t know how hard this is for me. How can someone you love destroy you, and do so publicly, while smiling the whole time?
But instead of that, all I say is, “It’s not hard. Not after what she did. She showed me who she truly is, and I’m better off not being with her.”
“Is that why you look like shit? Because you’re better off without her?”
I give him a cold stare. “She betrayed me and made me look like a fool. A fool for believing any of it was real.” My body hurts so much it feels like my bones will shatter. Is this what true heartbreak feels like? If it is, I will never experience this again. “You saw what she did, Trawick.”
“I did,” he says slowly, “and I have feelings about it. I’m not sure they’re the same as yours.”
“Then keep them to yourself. I don’t want to hear it. I didn’t call you here to discuss how awful I look.”
“Smell, too. Did you shower?”
When I give him a look that could blister his skin, he lifts his palms in surrender. “Too soon?”
I ignore his joke and push on with what I’ve got to say. “I’ve contacted the Witch and Wizard Council.”
His brows lift. “When?”
“This morning. Just before you arrived.”
“I assume they don’t know about the broken engagement.”
I thread my fingers together and tuck my hands behind my head. “What broken engagement? I never told Addison that we’d broken up.”
He smirks. “So you need me to be your witness.”
