Page 69 of Clash of Kingdoms

“How can you say that?—”

“Because we’re done anyway,” I snapped. “After we destroy the crystal, the demons will move on elsewhere, and then we’ll return to our lands and resume our lives. We always had an expiration date, and now that date has moved up. The outcome doesn’t change, just the timetable.”

Kingsnake dropped his chin, not touching the drink in front of him.

I didn’t touch mine either.

“Wouldn’t you want to end on good terms rather than bad?”

“It’ll make it easier for her.” It would be easier for her to let me go when she hated me, when she never wanted to see me again anyway. She would move on with the next guy and fuck me out of her system. The bitterness in her heart would erase me. “A lot easier to get over someone when you hate them.”

He gave a slight shake of his head. “If you love her, you should tell her the truth.”

“The truth doesn’t change what I did.”

“It changes the context—and that changes everything.”

I shifted my gaze back to the fire.

“Aurelias—”

“You’ve voiced your opinion. It’s done.”

He gave a heavy sigh.

“And if you go behind my back and tell her—we’re finished.”

He gave another shake of his head. “Perhaps it would be easier for you if someone else told her?—”

“No,” I snapped. “This is my business to share with whom I will. Cross that line, and you can never uncross it.”

SIXTEEN

HARLOW

I stayed in my room through the night and the next day.

Didn’t leave the bed but once.

The sheets smelled like Aurelias, so I asked the maids to change everything so I could smell sterile soap instead. I watched the colors of the sky change as the position of the sun moved. Aurelias never came to speak to me, and I suspected he wouldn’t. We could have another argument, but it would be identical to the one we’d already had…as well as the outcome.

I couldn’t get the image out of my head, the way he squeezed her to him, his hand deep in her hair. It was more than just a feed, but a sexual encounter, her fingers down her trousers to get off on the pleasure he gave her.

It scarred my eyes…and my heart.

Anytime I thought about it, additional tears came to my eyes.

A knock sounded on the door.

I sat up right away, in the same clothes I’d worn the night before, my hair a mess because I hadn’t brushed it. I feared it was him—the last person I wanted to speak to. Unsure what to do, I stayed quiet.

“Harlow?” It was my mother, the concern in her voice breaking through the door and reaching my ears. “Honey, are you alright? You haven’t come out for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I need to tell you something.”

I quickly wiped away my tears with my fingertips, even though it would be impossible to hide my heartbreak from my mother. She would see right through it. She probably already suspected it if she was at my door. “Come in.”

She opened the door and looked at me, and it only took a few seconds for her eyes to match mine. “Honey…” She came to the bed to hold me, and that gesture made the tears break free. She was dressed in her armor, but she sat on my bed and pulled me to her.

Like a child, I moved into my mother’s lap and clung to her. The tears poured down my cheeks.

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