Page 89 of Break Her Heart
“I thought you had planned everything,” I said quickly, the words tumbling from my mouth before I could stop them. “You told me it was all a game of seeing how far you could push me until I broke—and when I saw them hanging, I thought it was your final move. Your final attack.”
I took a breath, but it didn’t slow anything down. The words kept spilling out, desperate and raw. “But then I came to you that night and realized it wasn’t you. You didn’t do it. But I was already too far gone—too angry, too focused on revenge to back down. So I took your magic to stop you from stopping me. And now…”
I shook my head, tears burning behind my eyes. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t betrayed you, you would’ve stopped me and none of this would’ve happened. We wouldn’t be racing toward the end of the world. I’m sorry. August, everything is my fault and—”
He cupped my face and wiped a tear that I didn’t realize had fallen. “It doesn’t matter now. None of it matters now.”
But it did. It mattered more than anything. He pulled me in and kissed me. This kiss wasn’t like the others. It wasn’t built on lust or tension. It wasn’t punishment or relief.
It was like he meant every inch of it.
And with it, every feeling I’d tried so hard to bury surged forward like a tidal wave. The truth rang louder than ever.
I was in love with August.
27
August
We walked in silence through town. The snow had already melted in patches along the edges, exposing dead grass and dark earth beneath, but the chill still clung to the air. I kept a few paces behind her—not to let her lead, but because I didn’t trust myself to walk beside her yet. Not when my chest still ached with the weight of what I’d seen.
She hadn’t cried at first. She never did. Winnie was too proud, too angry, too determined to be strong. But when she did… it undid something in me.
All this time, I thought pushing my feelings for her down was the only way to survive this. That distance would protect us both. That if I could just keep it physical—keep her angry—then maybe I could keep her alive.
But watching her break like that…
I realized too late that I hadn’t protected anything. Least of all myself.
I loved her.
Gods, I loved her. And I was so fucking tired of pretending I didn’t.
I let her hate me. Let her believe the worst about me. Because I thought that was easier than facing what I felt. I thought if she hated me, it would make things simpler.
It didn’t.
It made everything worse.
Now, watching her walk down the street in silence, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, her head lowered against the cold, I knew I was done fighting it. All of it.
No more masks. No more distance. No more pretending.
I had spent so long trying to keep her at arm’s length, and I hadn’t even realized how empty that made me. But now… I couldn’t go back to pretending. Not after today.
I’d fight for her now, even if I had to fight her for it.
I would let Winnie use her magic to take us back to the castle eventually, but right now, she looked like she needed this quiet walk—alone in her thoughts, surrounded by the silence she couldn’t find anywhere else.
But the calm shattered when I saw Adar charging toward us.
“Bronwen!” he yelled.
She jumped like she’d seen a ghost. I stepped up next to her, ready. Though I didn’t know for what.
She didn’t look at me, just kept her eyes fixed ahead, wide and unfocused. Her voice came barely above a whisper. “He knows.”
I frowned. “About the graves?”
