My foot hadn’t even landed on the first step when I was yanked back by my hair. I grabbed my scalp so I wouldn’t fall and have my hair ripped out.
Conversation stopped, the clinking of forks silenced.
“Edward…” his mother’s voice warned with the tone of scolding a child who’d taken a toy that didn’t belong to him.
“She’s mine. She’s fucking mine. I saw her first.” Another hard yank and I hissed, unable to hold it in.
I couldn’t see anyone. My vision blurred on Edward’s shiny black shoes… and then he let go.
I shot up, hands going to my head, scalp burning where he’d grabbed me. Two of my guards were at his back, holding him by his shoulders with a gentle yet firm touch. The other two stepped between us. How my mother would be proud, I thought venomously. They really knew how to keep up appearances.
Edward pushed wet hair out of his face, locked on me. The more he did it, the more unhinged he looked.
“Well…” my mom finally said, tapping fingers along her chin. “No need for coffee. I feel quite awake.”
Gray, Gemma, and Horace were all uncharacteristically silent, with looks that might even be misconstrued as concern. I didn’t want to be pitied, especially by my fucking siblings. Theo was finally looking at me, but his face was a mask.
Tears bobbed up my throat.
Humiliated at being used as a rag doll.
Humiliated because Theo had done nothing.
So I ran, sprinted until I was buoyed by silence, hidden in one of the many hallwa
ys of the castle. I leaned against a stone wall warmed by an opposite window, catching my breath.
My guards followed me from the garden, taking staggered posts along the hallway. I hated them, hated their very existence. They had gotten Edward off me. They’d done their job, but their presence meant Theo hadn’t.
Had I ruined everything? Did he hate me so much? Or did he… did he maybe love her after all?
My scalp burned, but my eyes were absolutely on fire. I swiped tears.
“Abigail.”
I snapped my head up at the voice. Light from cathedral windows bathed Theo in diamonds of chiaroscuro. White-gold sunshine warmed his lips, and shadows sculpted his cheekbones.
Feet of hallway separated us. His brows were drawn, his jaw clenched, and there was a war in his eyes I wondered if I’d started. Did he think I didn’t love him, that everything was a lie?
“Hi,” I managed.
Without a word he came to me and grasped my neck, pulling me to his chest.
He exhaled a soft sigh of exasperation, stroking my hair.
His shirt was soft too, and he smelled divine. It was so faint, so Theo. You only get to know the scent if you were paying attention, if you were close; fresh and clean, but spicy, and something else, something inscrutable. Something dark, a scent that made me curl my toes. He was home; he was safety. A scent I wanted to bury my nose in forever.
His palm landed on my scalp, stroking the aching place Edward had ripped.
He pulled back after a minute, but it felt like only a second. I searched his eyes. Even though he was staring right back, he was so far away. My lips parted to say something… I don’t know, anything.
I opened my mouth and came up with nothing.
He took my hand, the one Edward had bruised, in both of his, tracing lines along the redness, brows drawn. Our breathing warmed the air like a summertime breeze, but desperation strangled it like storm clouds. He gripped me like it was for the last time.
“Ask me.” It came out on a croak, and I swallowed, searching for courage. “Ask me, truth or promise?”
His ministrations froze, face hardening, then he dropped me, turning and walking back the way he’d come.