Page 25 of The Art of Professing Love

“Sylvan, no! You’ll only make things worse if you start meddling in his past relationships.”

“Don’t worry about that, cousin. I know what I’m doing.”

I didn’t, really, but I couldn’t help sensing that I was in danger of losing Irving somehow, and I had to do everything in my power to keep him. I didn’t like the sound of his ex-fiancé at all, and if I knew Irving – and I knew him quite well at this rate – he was going to need a little help chasing off the man who broke his heart.

20

IRVING

Lachlan was, as Cyrus had warned me, waiting in my office when I got back. He reclined in the chair opposite mine, one calf resting over the other leg’s thigh.

“I heard about your new little friend,” he said evenly.

Lachlan was a nasty piece of work, but a bad temper was never one of his problems and if I’d expected or wanted a knock-down, drag-out argument, that was the last thing I was going to get today.

“What business is it of yours?” I asked coldly, sitting down in my desk chair.

Lachlan uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. He knew how much I hated that. “If my fiancé is in a serious relationship with a monster, I think I have every right to know.”

“Ex-fiancé,” I corrected him. “And he’s not a monster, he’s a fae.”

Lachlan smiled. “So you are fucking him.”

I forced myself to take in a steady breath. He was pushing my buttons intentionally. He was trying to get a rise out of me. I needed to keep reminding myself not to fall for his tricks if I was going to get out of this room with any ounce of dignity left to my name.

“We are dating, yes.”

“I don’t think a fae is at all suitable for you.” He lowered his hand on top of mine.

I flinched at his touch and drew my hand away, placing it safely in my lap. “You don’t know me very well at all, then, do you?”

“Sorry, I should clarify: I don’t think that this specific fae is suitable for you. Want to know why?”

“Not particularly.”

There was no sense in telling Lachlan no. He was going to do what he wanted regardless of what I said, and before I could even think about ushering him out the door, he pulled out some photos from the inside pocket of his jacket.

“I think you might find these interesting. I stumbled across them when I was doing a little research on your new friend.”

“And why would you do that?” I didn’t look at the photos that he slid across the desk toward me. “You need to leave me alone, Lachlan. Our engagement is over and I never want to see you back in my life again. Admit it, you’re jealous that I’ve moved on and you haven’t.”

Lachlan shrugged. “Call it jealousy if you want, but you know you were a fool to let me go.”

I scoffed. “Have you forgotten why I let you go?”

“I made a mistake. Humans are allowed to make mistakes, as you well know.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Getting with a fae, really. Now, I’ll just leave these here so you can look at them when you’re ready, and until then, I’ll be at the local hotel. I’ll see you there, Irving.”

He stood up, leaned over the desk, and planted a kiss on my forehead. A chill ran down my spine. I was seconds away from jumping up and slapping him across the cheek, but my sensible half told me not to do that unless I wanted to land myself in even worse shit than I was in now.

I didn’t touch the photos, still lying face-down on the desk, until long after I was certain Lachlan had left the building. I was curious to see what was depicted in them, but I would never give that bastard the satisfaction of knowing just how curious I was. I flipped them over cautiously, eyes roving over every little detail.

They weren’t worse than I expected, per se, but they weren’t anything better either.

“Sylvan,” I whispered, fingers closing in over the photos till they crumpled around the edges, “how could you?”

There was a knock at my office door and instinctively, I threw the photos into the garbage bin. My heart was pounding as I got up and opened the door, half-expecting to see Lachlan standing there ready to needle me some more.

“Oh, it’s you.” I stepped aside to allow Sylvan in.

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