I wasn’t keen on the Unseelie at first either, but my hesitation was born from fear. We’d been told such terrible lies about the Unseelie, and I didn’t know any better. Then I learned they are just like us. Larger and greener, sure, but ultimately wanting the same thing: to live in peace.
I tighten my towel before dropping onto the bench. “If you give them a chance?—”
“They don’t deserve one.”
Does he really want to discuss what’s deserved? If that were the case, his arse would be in the dungeon for the way he treated our queen before she wore a crown.
“Look, Nia. This isn’t working. We want different things.”
Clearly. I want to do what’s right and leave the past behind us, and he wants to cling to it like it’s a life raft and not a boulder.
He’s the one who begged for a second chance. A chance I gave him.
For a few weeks, I almost convinced myself that nothing had changed, but that isn’t true.
I’vechanged.
My world has been expanded to include the lands and people from across The Divide. I’m not sure where that leaves us, but have a sinking feeling it isn’t where I hoped we would be at this stage in our lives.
Nolan cards a hand through his curls, a weighted sigh falling from his lips. “The truth is, I don’t even know if I want to get married.”
Wait. Did he just say— “Since when?”
“Heaven’s sake, Nia. Keep your voice down.”
I’ll keep my voice wherever the hell I want to keep it. Which is apparently silent because his little confession has rendered me speechless.
“I didn’t realize until recently, all right?” he goes on. “You and I have been together for so long, marriage seemed like the next logical step.”
The “next logical step” to that statement is my palm slamming into his no-good face. Wonder what he’d have to say about that.
“Now that I have a bit of clarity, it feels like we’re together for the wrong reasons.”
How is love the wrong reason?
“You only started seeing me to anger your mother.”
“That’s not true.” Not entirely. He was handsome and charming and knew exactly what to say to make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the room. Yes, his position as a royal guard irritated my mother, and she was incensed that I would “aim so low,” which thrilled me to no end. Still, I refuse to let him reduce what we have to pettiness.
“And you clearly want to fuck that Unseelie prick.”
A red cloud descends over my vision, blurring his infuriating face. “How dare you speak to me like that.”
Nolan doesn’t even flinch. He just sits there letting his hatred and jealousy rot him from the inside out.
“Maddox and I are friends, nothing more.” And even that description of our relationship is an exaggeration.
Nolan holds up his hands, surrendering the conversation and his hold on us. “Look. I don’t want to argue anymore. It’s time Ifind someone who doesn’t make me feel the need to constantly apologize for who I am and how I feel. I need a fresh start.”
A fresh start with someone else. Anyone else, as long as she isn’t me.
This is just like Jonathan all over again.
An invisible fist squeezes my throat, making it damn near impossible to swallow. “I didn’t realize being with me was so difficult.”
He has the audacity to roll his eyes. “Don’t do that. Don’t play the victim.”
Playthe victim? Iamthe victim of his bloody lies.
