Page 6 of Caged Love

Halia has slept with Rave before—I know that much. I know she was upset when he found his fated mate, Astrid. The same Astrid I was told August loves.

She must have beer-flavored nipples or something.

“I’m an idiot.”

“No, you just see the best in everyone,” she replies, gently nudging me with her shoulder.

Apparently, everyone except my own fucking mate.

“Have I fucked up?” I whisper, licking my suddenly dry lips.

“I’m a romantic, you know this,” she replies, pushing off the wall and coming to stand in front of me. “You don’t need to fight your father’s battles anymore, Milana. You don’t owe his rebellion any loyalty. They will use you, spit you out, and go on like nothing has happened. You are replaceable. But to your mate…”

“I’m his only one.” I sigh, and she rests her head on my shoulder.

“You know I’m here for you no matter your decision.”

“Rion isn’t going to let me just walk out of here with August.”

“Rion won’t know about it until it’s too late,” she replies, shrugging. “Besides, who died and made him king?”

“My dad,” I blurt out, and she winces.

“Fuck, sorry.” But her lip twitches like she wants to laugh. Halia and her dry-fucking-humor.

“When do you have to go back?” I ask.

“Tomorrow,” she replies, glancing down at her legs. “I’m looking forward to being back in the ocean. Three days on land is three too many. Next time, we’ll meet back at the cabin.”

My lip twitches. I know she only comes here to see me, and I appreciate it more than she knows.

She looks down toward the staircase that leads to August. “So, what are you going to do about him?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But I can’t pretend it doesn’t hurt me to know what’s happening down there. And I fucking brought him here. I have to live with that.”

“He kept you captive too,” she reminds me.

“Yeah, in a nice comfortable room, where I was fed delicious food. I once told him my head hurt when I was there, and he sent a fucking healer to help me. Our accommodations for him have been a little different.”

She shrugs. “You guys aren’t royals. Look at where we are… an old, abandoned castle with rats bigger than my head.”

I roll my eyes. Yeah, this place is shady, but it’s our hideout. I still have my father’s stunning two-story house to go home to.

“I messed up bringing him here. I thought I could turn off my feelings. I tried, trust me. But seeing him down there, sitting on the fucking ground…”

“Stop going down there, Milana. Get out of here for a while and clear your head,” she suggests.

It would be so easy to just turn my back on the situation and tell myself I’m not doing anything wrong. But the truth is that August isn’t even originally from the Incubus Kingdom. He’s a common fae who fell in with that crowd.

He’s not a royal.

But he did have something to do with my dad’s death.

However, I don’t think he killed him.

August is a warrior.

If what August says is correct, Rave would have been the one to make the kill, trying to protect his mate.

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