Page 78 of Honeythorn
Jack smirked. “Oh, I can’twaitto see you try.”
Knowing if he remained there a minute longer, he would lunge towards one of them and damn the consequences, he walked out of the room with their laughter ringing behind him.
It took him a long while to get back to the ballroom, unable to get his bearings. He couldn’t stop crying, the empty ache in his chest like a hole he was being buried in, but he knew he had to stop the flow of tears before he entered the ballroom.
Just five minutes. Find Katerina, and then you can fall apart.
With a deep breath, he joined the music and the crowd, the noise an assault on his already dizzy head. He rudely pushed through groups of people until finally—there.
“Katerina,” Milan said desperately, pulling her away from whoever she had been talking to. Katerina made a disgruntled noise but stopped cold as she saw his face.
“What has happened?”
“Please—I need your crawler. I can’t explain now—Jack’s plot was far different than we expected. Raphael thinks I betrayed him—please.I need to find him.”
“Let’s go.”
They rushed outside, where Katerina had someone call for her driver and crawler. Milan was barely holding himself together.
“Come on, get in. I’ll accompany you there.”
“You can’t—I have to do this alone. If he sees you, he might think…”
“I’ll leave after, but you look as if you’re about to faint, Milan. Come on, I’m not leaving you alone.”
Despite Katerina’s company, Milan was barely cognizant during the ride. All he could feel was the sway of the crawler and the empty space where Raphael’s side of the bond should be.
“I can’t feel him,” Milan whispered brokenly. “I can’t feel the bond.”
Katerina clutched his hands. “Look at me, Milan.”
Dazedly, he did so.
“You have told your husband to trust you in the past, have you not? Now, it’s time for you to trust him. He loves you—you know he does. Whatever has happened, it will not break you apart. Itcannotbreak you apart.”
Milan shook his head, feeling a sob block his throat. “I’m afraid that this just might.”
Milan only came back to himself fully when the crawler slowed to a stop. He looked out the window at the familiar sight of the manor and almost threw himself out of the crawler, but Katerina held him back.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to wait here? I won’t leave the crawler.”
Milan shook his head. “No, I just can’t…I’ll send a note to you in the morning, I promise.”
“Do, or I will come find you myself.”
“If I’m not here, I’ll be at the village inn.”
“Milan…”
“It’s all right. Go. I’ll be fine.”
Katerina pressed a kiss to his cheek before letting him go.
As eager as he had been a moment before to enter the manor, he waited until the crawler started scuttling away before facing the large front doors.
He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to face the end—but what else could he do?
With a shuddering breath of frigid air, he walked up the steps and opened the door.
