Page 149 of Veiled

Our laughter fills the room, “I just watched Coco. Spirit guide was the only thing that would come to mind!”

“Shoo, spirit guide. Go wash your smelly laundry,” I say, motioning like I’m sweeping him out of the room with my hands.

After I get the other clothes I bought put away, I get comfortable on my bed—back resting on a pillow against the headboard—and start studying.

Chapter fifty-three

Annalise

Iknow something’s wrong the moment Aiden walks in the door.

He doesn’t smile. Doesn’t kiss me. Doesn’t even take off his jacket. He just stands by the desk, staring at the floor like he’s incapable of looking at me.

“Ace?” I ask quietly. “What’s wrong?”

He closes his eyes for a moment, and my brain goes into overdrive. Someone must have died for him to be having this type of reaction, but who? I was just with Matt, and Sasha has been texting me while she hangs out with Antonio, so I know they’re all safe.

“Ana,” he says, barely above a whisper. “We need to talk.”

My stomach drops. “Okay…so talk to me.”

“I can’t do this anymore,” he rushes out.

For a second, I don’t even absorb what he said. It’s like he’s speaking another language.

“Do what anymore?” I ask, my voice shaking a little. “Honey, you’re scaring me.”

I can feel Tyr listening now that my emotions have spiked, but he stays silent.

“This,” he says, finally lifting his hand to gesture vaguely in the space between us, “Us.”

I blink, stunned. “Aiden, what are you talking about? Everything was fine when you left yesterday. Did something happen on your mission?”

“Nothing happened,” he snaps, jaws clenching.

I take a step toward him, needing his touch to ground me because this can’t be real, but he recoils, stepping back into the wall like my touch would burn him.

A small, wounded sound slips out of me. “Aiden, please. If something’s wrong, just tell me. We can fix it.”

“You can’t fix this.” His voice cracks a little on the last word.

“Why? I don’t understand. Talk to me, please,” I’m begging, but I need him to give me something, anything.

“Believing that we could have any sort of future after here,” Aiden says, voice flat and controlled, “when you still don’t graduate for months—it was just—childish. Thinking we’d get assigned to the same duty station? That we’d somehow make long-distance work? It’s not realistic.”

I stare at him, stunned. “We have no idea where I’m going to be stationed—how can you decide that already means we’re not going to be together? How are we not worth fighting for even if we are separated?”

He doesn’t answer.

“And gods,” this time it’s my voice that’s cracking, “you’ve been talking about getting married for months, Aiden. Married. We love each other.” My chest aches. “You want to throw everything away just because you graduate a few months earlier than I do?”

Aiden’s jaw clenches hard, and something sharp that I can’t read flashes in his eyes before he collects himself, returning to the cold, distant look again.

“Annalise,” his voice turns quiet, pitying, “I think you misunderstood something.”

No. No, no, no—

“I never said I loved you.”