Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

He stopped. “Ellie took a photo of you from inside his wing. You…” He rubbed his neck. “You said you were happy your mom died or something.”

I wanted to press him, but he quickly left, and I know he’d already stayed longer than he should have. So, I left the hall, head buzzing.

Outside it was snowing soft flakes, and the maze called to me. I’d always wanted to wander it, and with my mind and heart the way it was, it felt right.

Firing one of them quiets them for a little…

The conversation I had with West came rushing back. I never fired anyone, but Grayson had, and at the time, I thought it was because he’d been turning into someone else. All this time, for me.

He told the world he was a virgin. I know he did. For her.

The words I’d overheard Lottie say twisted in my mind as I went left and right in the overgrown emerald hedges. I wanted to believe there was no way Grayson would do that…tell the world his most guarded secret.

He fired Ellie for me. He sold his secret for me.

I thought it would be easy to hate West. I thought it would be easy to hate Grayson.

They’d done horrible things to me.

Instead I’d ended up hating myself.

“You shouldn’t be out here in the cold.”

I spun. “Grayson.”

“What are you doing here?”

Ig

noring me, Grayson slipped out of his jacket, draping it over my shoulders. It was almost like the first time he’d given me his jacket.

Without another word, he turned to leave.

“Did you fire Ellie for me? Did you stop a story from coming out?” I demanded of his back. “Did the servants leak my secret? Is that why the entire world knows yours?”

He paused.

“You did. Why?”

He slightly turned his head so I had a view of his angular profile, his perfect jaw, soft lips, and crooked nose.

“That was my secret, Snitch. You gave that to me.”

I shoved his back. Grayson spun around, blue eyes alight with some emotion. He walked to me, forcing me to take steps back until my back slammed into the prickly hedge. There was only a whisper of cold air between us.

He ran a tender hand along my jaw.

I couldn’t move.

“Lottie loves you,” I said, desperate for something to eat the silence.

“She does,” he agreed, still tracing that hand down my cheek.

“West loves me.”

His hand froze. He clenched his jaw. He took a step, pressing me farther into the hedge, arching over me until we were shadowed by his massive height.

“When he kisses you, do you think about me, Snitch?” he asked quietly.