Page 180 of Juliet & Her Romeos

“He was an astounding dancer.” Ambrose’s jaw clenches. “Also, a kind man who was my friend. But he’s not in exile.”

A cold ball forms in my stomach.

“Tell me.” My lips tremble. “Please, just fucking tell me, Amby.”

“They were dancing together. I pushed the closet door ajar. I meant to tell them that I was there, but something about the way they were dancing stopped me. It was mesmerizing like when Swan and you are together. I could see the love in the way that they looked at each other. When they kissed, it was obvious thatthis secret affair wasn’t new. A beta principal from each rival pack being together was taboo. I was terrified for them.”

“I didn’t know.” Tears tremble in my eyes. “She didn’t…”

Tell me.Trust me.

Mom had a secret life.

A secret love.

Yet I know what it feels to live like that with Swan.

“She was protecting you.” Ambrose’s breathing becomes labored like he’s struggling to stay in the present with me and not lose himself in the darkness of the past. Shadows swirl through the bond. “Are you sure…? I’ve held this inside for four years. I thought that I was protecting you.”

“You’re not.” Tears finally break from my eyes, chasing down my cheeks. “I want the fucking truth.”

“My mom and your uncle caught them.” Ambrose’s words are as sharp as a dagger. He struggles over each one. “Mom beat them. Felix threw himself over Nova to shield her. It was a scandal that would have broken both academies: two Betas from rival academies, swearing that they were a Beta only pack and would never abandon each other. Jacob stabbed Felix first. On that ranch of his, as you know, he was the type to swagger around with that big fucking knife on his belt. That’s when I ran out of the closet. I tried to save your mom. I’m sorry. I’m fucking sorry that I didn’t manage…”

“No.” I sob, collapsing against Ambrose’s chest.

He wraps his arms around me.

I’m numb.

In shock.

Ashen, I’m hyperventilating. “S-s-she isn’t…m-mom’s not…”

“I hurled myself in front of her. I couldn’t let your mom be…” Ambrose’s voice is hollow. When I glance up at him through eyes that are blurry with tears, he reaches up to rub over his scar. “But your uncle gave methis.”

I’m breathing so hard that I think I may vomit.

All those times that Dimitri and the Dance Master controlled me by threatening Mom repeat through my mind.

But all along, she’d been…?

I gag.

Guilt is thick in Ambrose’s pheromones. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t save her. Witnessing those killings fucked me up. The other college students at Oxford called me asociopath. I just shut down to deal with… I didn’t know how to tell you. I’ve been trying to keep you safe.”

“S-s-safe?” I can hardly get my words out through my tears.

“You were with Laurent.” Ambrose holds tightly onto me like he’s frightened of losing me. “Mom and Jacob wanted to kill you as well. Lying in my own pooling blood, I made a deal. I’d leave immediately for England and prove my obedience, while Mom would keep you as a student under her control at the academy. If I fucked up, then she could still…”

I tremble, clinging onto Ambrose more tightly.

I hadn’t only been a captive all these years. I’d been under sentence of death.

Ambrose has been punishing himself for surviving, but actually, he’s my guardian angel. He risked his life to try and save Mom and his friend.

He sacrificed his future in America and his freedom to rescue me.

He’s never been my enemy.

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