Numb limbs carry me out the door to the beat of my shattering heart.
Someone shouts for me.Kerris. She’s jogging to catch up while I’m struggling to catch my breath in the middle of the bloody street.
I slink into the nearest alley, clutching the rough stones as I fight for air. “Did Ivee just . . . ?”
Kerris’s response is swift. The slam of an executioner’s axe. “Yes.”
Yes. Yes. Yes.
“And Nolan said . . . ?”
“Yes.”
Oh no. Oh, God.
Nolan did want to get married after all.
Just not to me.
Tomorrow, this is all everyone will be talking about.
Ivee and Nolan.
The scandal I’ve been desperate to avoid has found me anyway.
When people see me, they’re going to want to know what happened. Why he didn’t wait for me. Why he said yes. Why four years of learning how to bend and meld with each other hasn’t ended with happily-ever-after.
Kerris combs my hair back with her fingers, her beautiful face a mixture of confusion and concern. “Tell me what happened.”
There’s no denying it now. No dodging questions or pretending the world isn’t falling apart.
“Nolan and I . . .” He ditched me on a public bench. “We broke up last week.”
Her hand stills. “Oh, Nia. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Because then she would’ve looked at me with the same sympathy that is overflowing in her eyes right now, and I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together.
I don’t miss Nolan. Clearly, the two of us weren’t meant to end up together.
What I miss is the security of having a partner. The confidence of knowing you’ve found the person you’re meant to be with. The joy of being chosen.
But I wasn’t chosen. Not in the end.
I was left behind for someone else.
I scrub my hands down my wet cheeks. When did I start crying? “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“You’re not. And that’s all right.”
“No, seriously. I hardly even care.” If only my eyes understood exactly how little I care. Good bloody riddance. Nolan is Ivee’s problem now. They can both be awful together. They can fill their kitchen with stolen pies and wear stolen blue ribbons like sashes and have terrible children together and . . . and . . .
Kerris’s hand falls away, her voice soft with something that sounds an awful lot like regret. “Does this have anything to do with what happened with the prince?”
“No.” I’ll not have her taking any of the blame for the hate in Nolan’s heart. The truth is, Nolan isn’t the man I always thought he was, and I’m better off without him.
It just hurts.
It hurts so much.
