It is all I can do to not run as fast as I can out of his sight. I am stunned at how cruel I was to him, and the look in his eyes haunts me. When I finally get back to Sofia’s room, I lock the door behind me with shaking hands.
I sink down on the bed, hating myself. I curl my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them.
He must have been so lonely his whole life growing up as a werewolf among the angelli, and I’d used that against him, taunting him for being repulsive because I’d known that would hurt him most.
By the time Sofia comes to find me, I have exhausted myself through crying.
She sits down on the bed beside me and puts her arm around me. She hands me a tissue.
“That was Dane?” she asks.
I nod.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, and this time in her eyes I can see that she feels it deeply. After seeing him in person, she knows what I am having to give up.
“What are you going to do?”
I sniff into the tissue. “I don’t know. I told him to leave me alone. But the thing is…”
“You still want him,” she finishes.
I nod. “I said some horrible things to him. I was just so afraid that if I didn’t make him leave, then I would give in. The oracle told me that I can’t be with them.” My voice cracks at the last few words.
She is quiet for a moment, and then she says, “Aeron is here.”
My head snaps around to face her. “What? Did you see him? Is he okay?”
“I didn’t see him. Someone told me. From what I can gather, I think he’s fully recovered.”
I close my eyes. “Thank God. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him. I thought I would never know…”
I swallow hard, twisting my fingers anxiously. “You didn’t tell anyone, did you? About what I did?”
“Never! Nobody knows.” She squeezes my hands reassuringly.
I let out a shuddering breath. “I suppose Tyler is with them too?”
She nods.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” I say. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to stay for you, but now I can’t. I have to leave right now.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. And then she says, “If you’re sure, I can ask my mother to arrange it right away. But I think…”
“What? Just say it.”
“Maybe…” She looks down at her hands on her lap. “Maybe you need to get them out of your system.” She blushes as she says it.
I stare at her. This is the last thing I expected her to say.
“I mean… maybe you need closure. You should end things the way you need to end them, so that you don’t have any regrets.”
My heart aches at her words. I will always regret leaving them the way I did. And yet the idea of seeing them again, knowing that it would only be to say goodbye, is unbearable.
“I don’t think I can do it,” I whisper.
“You’ve always been the bravest of all of us.”
I let out a harsh laugh. “Yeah, right.”
“Think about it.” She slips a small envelope into my hands.
“What is it?”
She bites her lip. “It’s an invitation to an after-dinner soirée tonight for Aeron. Because he’s an alpha now.”
“They’re having a party?” The idea of this hurts. Already they are moving on.
“Dane’s mom arranged it. A pool party, I heard. Something fun for young people.” She clears her throat. “People have been saying his mom is hoping he’ll meet a nice girl.”
It is like a punch to the stomach. Of course his mom wants him to meet someone. And he probably will. Really soon. They’ll move on, and I’ll be back in my same old life, missing them desperately, and knowing I’ll never see them again.
“Would you mind leaving me alone for a bit?” I ask.
“Sure.”
She gives me a tight hug. She picks the envelope up from the floor, where I had let it drop, and pushes it into my hands. “It’s in the private family wing of the palace. You’ll need the card to get in.”
