And here we already were, right at the heart of it.
“Yet, you agreed to marry him.” It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.
As if I had a choice.
I bit back the words I wanted to spit.
Tremors ripped beneath the floor, and I had to plant my hands on the table to steady myself. To keep my chair from vibrating with the shame. The hurt. The pain. The anger.
All of it swept into a snarl of regret.
I couldn’t look at him when I admitted, “Yes.”
“So why leave, Aster? It seems to me it turned out exactly how you planned it.” Disgust twisted his voice.
Clearly, he was having second thoughts about what had happened last night. About the promise he’d made when he’d walked out the door.
There were too many things I couldn’t say. Too many things that couldn’t be taken back. Too many things that would destroy him now.
A fist slammed down on the table, and I sucked in a shocked breath. I squeezed my eyes shut as I fought the impact of his fury.
“Why?” It cracked through the room.
Guttural.
Grieved.
A single tear streaked free.
It wasn’t of fear.
It wasn’t of weakness.
It wasn’t of anything but the loss that neither of us could take back.
Every secret I could never give him.
I lifted my face because there was no use hiding from him. Not when he was there, potent and powerful. Angel and beast.
“Because there is only so much one person can take.”
I wondered if he had any idea I’d taken it for him.
Based on his expression, I believed, no. He’d just been a reckless fool.
Greed had infested and taken control. Clouded who I’d once believed him to be.
Something moved through his being.
Something barely held.
Something barely contained.
“Has he hurt you?” Logan’s question was almost emotionless.
Almost.
Except his green eyes turned a deadly shade of black.