Page 57 of The Broken Prince

The soldiers gathered Avice’s belongings and brought them to the castle, where we would live together in my royal bedchambers. The place had been uncomfortable since she’d left, haunted by her ghost, her smell still lingering even though she’d been gone so long… Or maybe I just imagined it.

Her clothes were hung in the closet, her toiletries in the bathroom, all the elements that I remembered from our time together.

But she was still missing.

She finally came to the castle, in a long sweater dress with black leggings underneath, her dark hair pinned back in an elegant updo. I knew my wife was a beautiful woman, but every time I saw her, I realized my memory had muffled just how stunning she really was.

There was defiance in her eyes, coldness in her tightly pressed lips, but she still showed up to honor our agreement. She walked up to me, her eyes so guarded it seemed as if that passionate night we’d shared had never happened. Her stare was ice-cold, like she hated me, and then she walked off to our bedchambers. Her hostility was paramount, but it still felt like the happiest day of my life.

I followed her into our bedchambers, an expansive part of the castle with several bedrooms and bathrooms, breathtaking views of the city below. These chambers should belong to Huntley, but since he was here so infrequently, he had offered them to me.

She kneeled in front of the fireplace and lit a match, getting the flames to rise and heat the cold room.

The cold never bothered me, and now I remembered how much she hated it, that she preferred to keep our chambers scalding hot because the cold made her shiver.

I would have to accommodate her requests, but that was a small price to pay to have her back in my life. I remained behind her, waiting for her to turn and look at me, but she continued to stare at the fire and ignore me.

I gave her time to stare at the fire and collect her thoughts, but when the minutes passed without a word, I broke the silence. “Avice.”

She inhaled a deep breath before she turned around, her arms crossed tightly over her body.

“I honored your requests—and I expect you to honor mine.” I’d reinstated General Macabre and spared him the embarrassment of kneeling at my feet. I’d buried the hatchet between us because there were more important things to worry about right now.

“And here I am.”

“Begrudgingly.”

She looked away. “What do you expect, Ian?”

“I expect you to try.”

She still wouldn’t look at me.

“Don’t pretend you don’t love me anymore. Don’t pretend your heart doesn’t ache for me the way mine does for you. Don’t pretend this marriage isn’t worth fighting for. You wouldn’t have slept with me if those feelings didn’t exist.”

Her head slowly turned back to mine.

“Forgive me—and try.”

“I said I would try, but I said nothing about forgiving you—”

“Avice.” I stepped forward, getting closer to her. “We can’t rebuild a marriage until you forgive me first. I’ve been faithful to you, even when you left me. I’ve been drinking and moping every fucking day since you’ve been gone. I’ve been praying to the gods day and night for you to come back to me. Yes, I fucked up, but there’s never been a question of how much I love you. You know how much I love you.”

She still wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Ian… I just need time. Changes like this don’t happen overnight.”

“I can give you all the time you want. But I want there to be effort.”

She rubbed her arm through her sweater, like she was cold.

“Truth be told, we may not have the time to put this marriage back together. There may be no future for us anyway. But if this is the end…I want us to be together.”

She lifted her chin and looked at me, her eyes filled with pain. “What does that mean?”

I didn’t want to scare her, but I didn’t want to pretend everything would be alright when it probably wouldn’t be. Whether we fought these demons or we fled for safety, our lives would be forever changed. “These enemies are unlike anything we’ve ever faced.”

“But Delacroix defeated them—”

“Only because the vampires were able to slay their leader.”

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