Page 137 of Until the Stars Fall

I stepped forward cautiously, as though he might retreat if I moved too quickly. “I’ve missed you,” I said meekly, immediately questioning whether that was the wrong thing to say. A faint smile tugged at his lips, but he didn’t respond, causing fear to spark within me once more.

He still didn’t look at me, didn’t move.

This was far from the confident royal I’d come to know. This wasn’t the same fae who had come to my rescue too many times to count. What had changed? What had happened to cause this shift in him?

But a different question spilled out of me. “What did I do wrong?”

The muscle in his jaw pulsed as it did when he was angry. His gaze burned into me, but not with anger or frustration. With regret.

“Nothing,” he finally said, swallowing hard.

Another step brought me close enough I could almost reach out and touch him if I dared.

I didn’t.

“Then why?” He started to shake his head slowly as I moved even closer. His scent engulfed me, but I ignored the desire that warmed my core. When I was less than an arm’s length away, I stopped, wringing my hands in front of me. “Why did you do it if you were just going to regret it?”

His lips pursed in concentration, and his eyes tightened slightly. I could almost see the thoughts churning in his mind as he worked to find the right words, debated how to answer me.

“You think I regret it?” he asked quietly, pinching his brow tightly.

“Why else would you run away? And then refuse to see me?” My voice wavered, my frustration and pain colliding into one confusing mass of emotions in my throat. “Was it some kind of test to see if I was your mate?”

Connor flinched, and his nostrils flared, but he remained quiet.

Dropping my hands to my sides, I straightened with feigned confidence. “That’s it, isn’t it? A fucking test. Just like Brennan.”

With a growl, he spun away from me. “It wasn’t a stars-damned test.”

He wasn’t going to avoid me this time. I wouldn’t allow it. I deserved some answers. Grabbing his arm, I tried to pull him around to face me, but he held firm, keeping his back to me. When I stepped in front of him, his hand snatched up my other wrist and pulled me to him so our chests were pressed together. His breath, ragged and uneven, shifted my hair against my forehead.

He released me immediately but didn’t fully pull away. “I’m scared,” he admitted softly.

I froze, my breath catching as my mind raced to remember where I’d heard him say that before. An image of the Linley Inn came into focus.

My dream.

“Scared of what? Me?” I laughed nervously as I repeated the same words I’d said in the dream. His eyes widened expectantly, like he was waiting for me to say something more.

“What, Connor?” I asked, lifting my shoulders. “What do you want from me? Do you want me to leave you alone?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t want—”

“Then what?” My gut churned with my growing frustration. “Trust me enough to talk to me!”

Connor’s expression darkened, and his voice came out low and rough as he said, “Trust goes both ways, Sapphire. I’m not the only one hiding something, am I?”

The guilt that had assaulted me earlier flooded back in, but I couldn’t tell him what I was hiding, not when the sight of him lying dead in the road haunted me whenever I closed my eyes. Shaking my head, I tried to fight the tears that sprang to the surface.

“That’s different,” I stammered.

“How?” he growled. I blinked rapidly, racking my brain for some excuse. When I came up with nothing, he huffed. “That’s what I thought.”

He started to turn and retreat again, and fear erupted in my chest, driving my tears to spill over and stream down my cheeks. “Connor, please. Just trust me when I say I can’t—”

Rounding on me, he pinned me with a wounded glare. “Can’t what? Just say it, Lieke. You love Brennan. I can see how you look at him. And it doesn’t matter that…”

He paused to take a shaky breath, and I held mine as I waited for him to complete his thought.

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