Page 31 of The Art of Professing Love

“I broke up with the fae.”

A smile spread across his lips, the corners of his eyes creasing. “Really? So, you let those pictures get to you after all, hm? I always knew you were a prude, Irving.”

“I’m not–“ I stopped myself from arguing with him. That was the last thing I needed right now. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you got what you wanted, and now you can leave.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for the night? I’ve got a king-size bed in here and I know how much you love taking up space.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from breaking the door down and tackling the bastard. “Thanks, but I’d rather chew glass.”

His smile disappeared and he slammed the door, the air from its shutting assaulting my face and making me blink. I was free of Lachlan again, and now I could return to my usual old life of work and, well, nothing else. Sylvan was gone too, but that was for the best. One day in the future, those photos would have surfaced and made me reevaluate everything I thought I knew about my fae. It was better that it happened early on in the relationship, as much as I hated Lachlan for being the one to do it.

I didn’t feel any lighter as I walked back out to my car. If anything, the weight on my shoulders was heavier and I dragged my feet along the pavement, wishing everything could have turned out differently. Of course, Sylvan was never the right man for me, and ending it now saved even more heartache in the future. Maybe he couldn’t see it yet, but I could, and I knew firsthand how these things went – Lachlan was proof of that.

“I’ll find someone else,” I told myself, turning the key in the ignition. “Or, better yet, I’ll stop looking entirely.”

I was done with dating for a while. It was time to stop worrying about relationships and start focusing on myself. I had a bright future ahead of me, I just needed to find the light and follow it.

Easier said than done.

25

SYLVAN

Istayed up for hours mulling over everything I could have said to make Irving stay. The truth was, he was going to leave me no matter what words I used, magic as they might have seemed now that he was gone.

I gave up on sleep after tossing and turning for the better part of the night, my brain refusing to give in to the sweet relief of unconsciousness. After a while, the frogs ceased their croaking and the birds came out, chirping merrily outside the open window.

“Must you rub it in?” I asked them, turning onto my side and pressing my pillow over my exposed ear. “Not everyone can be as cheerful as you are all the time.”

I had to get up or else I would spend the entire day stuck in bed, so I spent the morning reading my book, which was due to be returned today. I couldn’t bear to work on my most recent painting just yet, and I needed a visit with my cousin sooner rather than later anyway.

I flipped the pages in a trance, devouring each word like it was the most important thing I would read today. The beautiful thing about romance books was that they always ended with a happily ever after for the lovestruck couple, unlike in real life.

“Irving and I could have done with a romance written out for us,” I mumbled, glancing up from the page to look outside.

I wanted to see Irving on the porch. I dreamed of seeing him standing there, adjusting his tie, smoothing out his gray suit jacket, or wiping fresh raindrops from his glasses. Irving was gone, though, and he wouldn’t come back. He told me as much, and that man didn’t lie.

I expected to feel some sense of satisfaction when I finished my book, but as I closed it and set it on the coffee table, all I felt was a sort of longing for something more.

“They got together in the end,” I mumbled. “They persevered through it all and made it to the other side stronger. If only that would have worked for Irving and me.”

I sighed and, with book in hand, I stepped out onto the porch and began the long walk to the library, not stopping to think until I stepped inside the warm, inviting building and met my cousin’s gaze.

“What’s wrong?” they asked, stepping out from behind the front desk. They rushed over to me, wrapping their arms around me in a hug that I very much needed right now.

“We broke up,” I mumbled.

They pulled away, narrowing their eyes. “Is it real this time? You didn’t have one of your little arguments, did you?”

I shook my head. “This time is real. Something happened that made him change his mind about me – he seems to think he knows the true me now, whatever that means.”

My cousin led me back behind the desk and made me sit down in their chair. They knelt beside it, their elbows on one of the arms. “Tell me what he found out. He already knows about your college…experience, so it can’t be that.”

“No, it’s worse.”

“What, did you murder someone? Because if that’s the case, I wasn’t aware of it either.” They chuckled, but when I didn’t respond, their smile faded and they slumped back onto the floor. “I’m sorry, Sylvie. I’m not trying to make you feel worse.”

“You’re not,” I said quietly, slumping back in the chair. “I just don’t know how I can move on from this. I loved him, you know. I really thought he was the one.”

---