“You lied,” he repeats as if he’s doing his best to absorb what I’ve done.
And then I remember what Isaac told me his mother did—took away his father—and I get the sense that even if Stone doesn’t remember the details of that, the pain is still real. It haunts him.
And now I’ve lied to him.
“What about the ring?” he asks.
Oh, God. There’s still more to tell him. “The ring was my grandmother’s. You saw me wearing it when we first met and commented that no one would marry me, or something like that, and after ... I think you remembered seeing it on my finger, and that’s why you thought we were engaged. I wanted to stop everything, I did. But I was afraid of losing who you’d become.”
“And the town,” he grinds out. “You were afraid of losing your town.”
I nod, ashamed. I can’t look at him.
“None of it was real,” he murmurs in a voice so broken my rib cage shatters.
“Yes, it was real. I’m real. You’re real.”
He murmurs, sounding confused, “This whole time I thought it was an accident.” He touches his head. “But you did this on purpose. You let me believe this lie, and you had weeks to tell me the truth.Weeks.”
“I know what I did is unforgivable.”
He stumbles back and Pane grabs his shoulders, catching him before he hits the ground. Stone shakes off the help and swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“You let me believe we were engaged. You showed up to this wedding I planned. You would have married me? For what? For money? I don’t even know how much I have, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot.” He glances at Pane,who nods. His next words come out so cold I don’t recognize the man who says them: “You’ve taken me for a fool.”
“No!” I reach for him, but he steps away. “No, Stone. I tried to tell you! I wanted to tell you! But whenever I did, I always got interrupted.”
Stone runs a hand down his chest. It’s like he’s thrown up a thousand impenetrable walls.
And that’s when I know there’s no coming back from this.
“You had more than enough time to admit you gave me amnesia.” He looks at his brother. “Had it for weeks. That’s why I changed my cell number, because I couldn’t get into my phone. That’s why I changed the resort. Because I thought what I was doing was better. But it wasn’t.” He exhales. “I’ve been betrayed.” Without looking at me, he murmurs, “I never want to see you again.”
“No! No, Stone! I tried to cure you. I did. I made the potion from that bloom we found the other night, but Hercules ate it.”
He laughs. It’s bitter, and it rips me in half. “Right.”
“I swear!” I grab his hand, but he jerks back. “Please, you have to listen to me.”
He shakes his head. “I’ve made up my mind. I never want to see you again.”
My emotions swirl, ungrounded, untethered, wanting to cling to something. I’ve never felt so awful in my whole life. Yes, it’s my fault. I’m not saying it isn’t. But I wanted the lie as much as I wanted him. I just wanted to be seen and loved for myself for a little while longer. Who could blame me for that?
As Stone moves away, power surges inside me. Before I can stop it, blue sparks jump from my fingers, shooting like lightning toward the floor, the ceiling, smashing candles and causing them to explode into fountains of liquid wax.
People scream, “She’s a witch! Get out! She’ll kill us all!”
“No!” I cry. “No! I’m not going to hurt anyone. I’m so sorry! Wait! Please!”
I look over as Stone turns on his heel and leaves with the crowd, who’s clambering for the double doors.
His brother puts a hand on his shoulder and Hercules follows behind, kicking up his feet, excited to be going somewhere with his family.
His family.
Not my family.
Never my family.
