Page 64 of Until the Stars Fall

I scoffed. “Like I mean nothing to you.”

His right eye twitched, but he kept his apathetic expression otherwise in place. “Maybe I…” He paused to look over his shoulder, behind the door, and I took the opportunity to slip past him into the room. “Shit,” he muttered, turning around to catch me by the wrist, keeping me from getting too far inside.

“Let me go, Brennan,” I hissed, trying to free my arm, but instead he tightened his grip.

“Shut the door,” another voice said. I jerked my head up, and my stomach lurched into my throat at the sight of Connor leaning against the back of the sofa, his arms crossed in front of him.

I stumbled a little as Brennan, still holding my wrist, moved to do as his brother instructed.

“You can let her go, brother,” Connor said. “She’s not going to do anything.”

Brennan’s hand slipped away, and I stepped back tentatively. My heartbeat thundered in my ears.

Connor’s lips lifted into an easy smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “No need to be so scared, Lieke.”

“Oh? So you’re not going to try to choke me this time?” I asked with more attitude than was wise, but I couldn’t stay my damned tongue. Brennan swung around to throw an accusing glare at Connor, who didn’t seem at all perturbed by my question.

“I didn’t try to choke you.”

I pursed my lips and nodded slowly. “Oh yes. My apologies. Choking is merely an unfortunate byproduct of throwing someone against a wall by their throat.”

“You did what?” Brennan’s eyes went wide, and he took several quick steps toward his brother, but Connor lifted a hand to stop him, never diverting his focus from me.

“I apologize for my rash behavior the other day, Miss Berg.” He seemed anything but sorry as he addressed me though. “I see my actions didn’t deliver the message as intended. Or are you that desperate to be thrown out of this palace and out of our care?”

Not for the first time—and probably not for the last—I cursed my heart and this love that made me so stupid. I kept making the wrong decisions, kept stumbling about, kept hoping for something that wasn’t mine to want.

Tears rose against my will, and I tried to push them back with a deep, steadying inhale as I turned to Brennan.

“Tell me one thing, Bren, and I’ll leave you alone. I’ll never bother you again.”

“Tell you what?”

“Do you want to marry the princess?”

Brennan swallowed hard. Wetting his lips, he let his eyes flick down to my mouth briefly before raising them again to mine. “I do,” he said.

“Well then, I apologize for my intrusion, Your Highness. Congratulations on your engagement.” Nodding to him and his brother, I started for the door. But when my shoulder brushed his, I stopped and said, “I wish you both the best.”

Neither prince said another word as I stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind me. The tears pushed their way to the surface, lining my eyes and blurring my vision, but I refused to break down here. Not when they would be able to hear me no matter how quiet I tried to be.

I couldn’t go back to my room and explain my tears to Millie though, so I let my feet carry me to the only place I had ever felt at ease in this palace.

For hours I sat in the window seat where Brennan and I had played cards just a week ago. The whole time, I replayed the scene in my head—Brennan kissing me, the king storming in and dragging him away, me running to find Connor. That moment had changed everything, and it had tainted this room for me, stealing my safe haven in the process.

Yet I remained seated on the cushion, hugging my legs to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees as I watched—through quiet tears—the sun make its way toward the treetops. The faint clatter of hooves on the gravel driveway below pulled my attention toward the front of the house. From this window I didn’t have a view of the palace entrance; I could only see the gardens and the patio of the grand ballroom.

The ballroom where Brennan’s engagement would soon be announced before all the fae nobles—where Connor and the king would celebrate their success.

The knot in my stomach tightened, and I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand.

He didn’t deserve my tears.

He didn’t deserve my love.

He didn’t deserve me.

Yet here I was, my heart still pining for the damned prince like an imbecile.

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