Page 77 of Midnight Whispers

I pull her hands off me, hating myself for having the urge to continue holding onto her. “What I felt for you, Cinder. Felt.”

She shakes her head and tears burst from her eyes. “No. What we have is too good to be ruined because of them.”

I frown. “It’s over, but I’ll admit, a part of me wishes you weren’t so hard to walk away from.”

She collapses to the floor in sobs as I turn and walk away from her. I have nothing more to say.

Chapter

Thirty-Two

CINDER

“Another one,” I say.

I finished my shift at Black Magic Bar earlier this evening, and I’ve been drinking at the bar ever since. Two weeks have passed since my world fell apart. Nero still won’t speak to me, and I’ve lost hope that he ever will again.

Anabelle saw me the night everything happened and was nice enough to insist that I stay in the west wing with her and Asher, so at least I’m not homeless. I ended up delaying the opening of the studio. I just couldn’t find the energy to care to do everything that needed to be done. I’ve been so depressed I barely get out of bed in the mornings.

“Told you she’d be here.”

When I hear Anabelle’s voice, I turn around to see her and Rapsody standing a few feet back from the bar with concerned looks on their faces. They sit on either side of me.

“What are you guys doing here?” I ask. “Asher send you here to tell me that I’m no longer welcome at the manor?”

Anabelle frowns. “Never. I’ve made my position well known.”

I squeeze her hand because that’s really nice of her.

“How are you?” Rapsody asks.

I turn to her. “Lost. I know I screwed up, I do. I should have told Nero that Maude was my stepsister, but I was so afraid. I love him, and this was exactly what I thought would happen.”

“Did you tell Nero that you love him?” Rapsody asks.

I nod. “Yeah, it just made him angrier.”

The bartender slides the shot I ordered in front of me. I nod in thanks and toss it back, wincing at the burn that travels down my chest.

“Just try to be patient,” Anabelle says. “I’m sure he’ll come around.”

Her voice sounds so hopeful that I desperately want to believe her, but every time I blink, Nero’s face after he found out haunts my memory. I’m not sure there’s any coming back from that.

“Have you guys seen him at all?” I eat all my meals in my bedroom in the west wing and try to be out of the manor as much as possible. At first, I was glad to keep staying there. But as the days drag on, every corner just feels like a reminder of him.

I need to find my own place sooner than later.

Anabelle and Rapsody share a look. “We tracked him down and tried to talk to him about what’s going on with you guys, but he wasn’t having it.”

I should have expected as much, but the confirmation feels like someone is squeezing my ribs and strangling me to death. I nod slowly and blink back my tears.

Rapsody squeezes my arm, and that’s when I notice that she now has a wedding band alongside her engagement ring. I blink a few times. Before she can pull her hand away, I grip her wrist and look more closely.

“What’s this?”

She pulls her hand away. “I’m sorry. We thought it was best if we didn’t say anything, given what you’re going through.”

“You and Kol got married?” For the first time since everything between Nero and myself imploded, a genuine smile forms on my face.

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