Page 23 of Reveal Me
“Okay, fine.” Dion took two steps to me until we were toe to toe. His big body shut out the view of the people in the hall. His hot breath went straight up my nostrils and down to my core. Goddess, I wanted his tongue on me again.
“We’ll get through the wedding, and then you’ll let me explain.”
“No.” I took a step back, holding up my hands between us. “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies. I’m not here for you. I’m here for my friend.”
“Niamh—”
“I came in here to reject you.”
Gasps sounded through the gallery behind me. The peanuts were popping around like they’d just been tossed in a fire to roast. Dion looked like I’d just burned him. His brows were drawn, lips pursed, nostrils flaring.
“I’m going to do it. I’m doing it right now. I reject you. There: I did it.”
His eyes looked pained. But I had to be imagining that. He was a cheater, a cheater who’d been caught in the act. I knew this for a fact because I’d been his costar last night.
“I knew she was you, Niamh.”
“Liar.”
How could he have known? I’d looked nothing like myself when he took fake me to bed. I mean, I hadn’t looked like the woman he’d met in the woods. I hadn’t given him my name back then. There was no way he could’ve known the real me and fake me were the same person. He was lying.
My heart beat hard in my chest. I shushed it. But rapid thumps echoed in my ear. Looking down at my feet, I focused on the cold marble there. I felt dizzy, off balance, untethered. This was the right thing, wasn’t it?
I have no idea how long it took me to steady myself. When I looked up, Dion’s eyes were locked on to mine, searching for something. I couldn’t give him anything. I had no idea what he wanted. Other than for me to believe his lie, which I was not going to do.
“I was just another notch for your belt, right? Just another woman you can take and throw away when you’re bored.”
“That’s not true.”
“Why should I believe you when I caught you in a lie?”
“A lie you trapped me in.”
“Oh, so you’re going to blame the trap. You stepped into it. A leopard doesn’t change his spots.”
“I’m a panther. I don’t have spots.”
His jaw tightened. In real time, it was as though the pleading went out of him. He straightened his spine, and I knew I wasn’t looking at Dion the lover, I was looking at King Dion, the warrior, the monarch.
“You always planned to run, no matter what,” he said, his tone harder now.
He’d said the wordrun. To my ears, it sounded likerejection. I’d never been a chosen one. I’d been a girl for the moment. I never let anyone get too close to me. Not even him. I never would. I always dumped the guys, whether I caught them cheating or not. I always left first.
“So go ahead, Niamh. Run.”
Dion’s posture remained unchanged. But his energy, the way the air shifted around him, felt heavier. Dangerous. It felt like no matter which way I moved, I was going to end up in a trap. The space between us was cold, like a void opening up, threatening to swallow me whole.
I couldn’t breathe properly. I wanted to dive into him. He’d been so warm when he’d been inside me. But I couldn’t give in. I wasn’t even sure if that was on the table any longer, not with that hard glare.
I was standing still, but I felt like I was running. Fleeing from the reality that I couldn’t control. It wasn’t just Dion I was running from; it was everything.
But why the hell would I give him the satisfaction of doing what he said?
I turned on my heel. I didn’t run. I walked out of the throne room door and away from my fated mate, just as I’d always planned to do.
Chapter 16
Dion
