Page 98 of Wicked Salvation
I swallow thickly at the thought of somebody else loving her.
What the fuck am I even thinking?
I want her to be mine.
My boots crunch the damp gravel. I’d left the porch light off, but there’s a shadow on the steps. I stop and squint.
Is it really?
Eden.
She’s curled small at the top of the stairs, arms wrapped around her knees, like a child trying to make herself invisible. Her dress is simple, unlike anything I’ve ever seen her wear before. Pale and rumpled. Her eyes—when she lifts her head—are sunken, fever-bright, and ringed with fatigue. She looks like she’s falling apart.
She’s already back at Augustine?
Eden looks like something sacred and ruined.
My breath catches in my throat.
I hate how fast my pulse jumps. I hate how she still does this to me.
But I walk up the path anyway.
Her voice breaks the silence before I can speak.
“I called off the engagement,” she says. No hello.
Just straight to the point.
“That’s why you’re sitting on my steps? To tell me that you finally broke up with the man who was using you like a human punching bag?” The words slip out sharper than I intended.
She flinches, but takes it on the nose all the same.
Eden coughs, her whole body rattling. “You’ve made your point, Lucian. You were right. I was wrong.” She’s numb, I can tell from the blank stare. “There’s no need to fucking rub it in.”
She cursed.
That’s new.
“I’m sitting on your steps because I have nowhere else to go.” Her voice turns sharp. “But if I’m not welcome here, I can leave.” She stands, shakily. “I’m sure I can figure something out.”
I observe her for a heartbeat.
She looks so different from that night at the party.
Sickly.
“Sit down, Eden.”
She’s standing on the steps so we’re at eye-level. Her brown eyes are fierce, despite the dark circles around them. A different woman stares back at me.
“I’m not telling you to leave,” I relent. “I just…” I run a hand through my hair. It’s grown so long that it’s past my shoulders. “I just didn’t expect those to be the first words you say to me.”
She cocks her head. “Why wouldn’t they be? Isn’t that what you wanted?” Anger flashes in her eyes. “You told the entire world he was broke when you knew I had to marry for money.” She says through clenched teeth. “But you couldn’t even tell me.”
“And what would you have done if I had told you, Eden?” I take a step closer. “Would you have broken up with him? Or would you have called me a liar?”
“I would have confronted him.”
