Page 22 of Immortal Burden

“So, that’s all it was?”

“What else would it be?”

Our eyes locked.

The challenge there was clear.

Well, if he thought I was going to turn from it, he had another thing coming.

He was counting on my track record of distancing myself from it all in a bid to make it easier on the both of us.

After seeing the state of him at the ceremony, though, I’d had to revoke that approach, because it hadn’t been sparing him any pain, just exacerbating it. I’d come here to get it all out in the open, to help him get it out of his system so he could heal and move forward.

It was the opposite of what I wanted to do, especially because it wasn’t out of my system.

It never would be.

I hadn’t ended things because I’d stopped loving him—the exact opposite.

But I couldn’t tell him any of that, it would only make it worse.

“Us, Ryker. The breakdown of our relationship. After I ended things, you left for the Light Fae Realm so quickly that we never had a chance to discuss anything. You’ve been back a few days at most and—”

“And you think I need to hash it out? That I even want to? To go to that brutal place where you cast me aside after almost two decades together? Where you ripped my heart out?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes. If it’ll make you feel better.”

“You really care about what I want and need?”

“Of course, in spite of it all, you’re still my friend, my best friend, Ry.”

He shook his head with disbelief.

“What?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but we’re not all as stone-cold and unemotional as you. It can’t be just like a flip of the switch for me. One moment we’re almost getting engaged, the next we’re just friends. It’s gonna take time, Mia.”

“I understand that. Just know I’m here for you either way. Whatever you need.”

He closed the distance between us, glaring down at me. “Whatever I need, huh? Then tell me the whole deal with Draco, the real reason you pulled away.”

“I’m protecting you, that’s the deal.”

“Not close to being good enough.”

“I’m sorry, but it has to be.”

He scoffed. “There it is. Classic Mia Snow bullshit. The secrecy, holding yourself back.”

“I didn’t hold back with you!” I found myself yelling, hating the awful accusation. It had taken me so long and so much trust to open myself up to anyone and he’d been the person I’d tried so hard to achieve that with. I’d come a long way. For him to just simply downplay that and undervalue it really got under my skin.

I wasn’t my father. I could care, I could love.

I could.

“You had one foot out the door! That’s the difference between you and me, sweetness. I was always all in. I gave you everything I had, every fucking part of me. With you, there were just broken parts.”

“Ry, that’s not—”

---