Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
No.
“So, you think Huntley is wrong?”
I think you’re both wrong.
My eyes dropped.
I think this divide between you has always been inevitable. If he spared your father’s life, he would have come to resent you for it. Every time he looked your father in the eye, he would have felt like less of a man for doing nothing. And now that he’s executed your father, you resent him. This relationship never stood a chance. It was always doomed to fail.
I sucked in a quick breath through my closed teeth.
You said his mother despises you as well. Your brother despises him. Your union is causing grief to each of your families. That’s not what a marriage should be. A marriage should be a union, not a divide.
With every word that echoed in my mind, it hurt more.
I’m sorry to have upset you.
“It’s okay, Pyre.”
I took a long bath in the washroom and had dinner alone in my quarters. It was a suite attached to the main bedchamber, only accessible through the main doorway. It gave me privacy, but it also made it impossible to get to me without going through Huntley first. A wall separated us every night as we slept, and as I lay there alone, I swore I could hear his deep and even breaths.
Now I sat in the chair by the fireplace, my eyes focused on the pages of my book without really reading it. I read the same sentence three times because I couldn’t concentrate. My mind always traveled to the source of my heartbreak.
My bedroom door opened, and Huntley appeared in his just his undershorts, his powerful body commanding the room as if he were in uniform. He approached me by the fire, looking down at me with his arms by his sides.
A sudden urge came over me. A yearning for intimacy. A need for his warm chest against my back. Those thick arms strapped around my body like tight ropes. I inhaled a slow breath then exhaled all those feelings. “Something you needed?” I kept the bite out of my voice as best I could.
He dropped into the opposite armchair, sitting on the very edge of the cushion. “Wanted to check on you.”
“I’m fine,” I said quickly. “Just reading my book and enjoying my night.”
He stared at me with those intelligent blue eyes, seeing past my lies, seeing past my excuses. “A couple hours ago, the pain started.” His hand rubbed his chest, right over his heart. “Throbbing. Agonizing. Never-ending.” He dropped his hand and kept up his stare. “What happened?”
I forgot about our strange connection, the way we could feel each other’s heartache. His started right away and reduced to a low simmer. I got so used to feeling it that I hardly noticed it anymore. I closed the book and set it on the table beside me. “I talked to Pyre.”
“Is he alright?”
“He’s fine. But he said some things…”
“Such as?”
My eyes dropped. “That we were always doomed to fail.”
His stare was hot on my face. Burning.
“Your family hates me, and my family hates you. Even if you hadn’t killed my father, you would have resented me. Your mother would have resented you. And now Ryker is angry with me because I defend you…in some ways.” I shook my head. “We never had a chance. We married for political reasons, but those were the wrong reasons.” I lifted my gaze again.
He was calm but furious at the same time. “We can tell each other that was the reason, but we both know that’s bullshit. It was an excuse. It was a way for us to sidestep our differences and be together.”
My eyes dropped again.
“Baby, I admit we’ve got everything stacked against us—”
“I told you not to call me that anymore…”
He went quiet, as if I’d slapped him. “Whether I call you that or not, it doesn’t change the fact that that’s what you are. You’re my baby. You’re my wife. You’re my soul mate.”
“Well, I don’t want to hear it, okay?” I raised my eyes and looked at him once more.
His face was tight with tension, like he might explode in a scream. “We have everything stacked against us, but that doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does matter—”
“It doesn’t matter when we love each other. If you didn’t love me anymore, then we would be in trouble, but you do. I broke my promise, but your feelings didn’t change, and that tells me they’ll never change. That tells me that nothing in this world is ever going to rip us apart. So, I don’t give a fuck if our families are sworn enemies—that’s not going to come between us.”
My arms crossed over my stomach, my knees coming to my chest. “My brother hates you—”
“I’m not a fan of his either.”
“If my mother knew what my husband did—”