Page 52 of One True Love (Love Mark 1)

“No, don’t go near her.”

“Get him out of here!” the king ordered, pointing at me.

“Come on, Urban,” Allera said steadily, her voice calm and coaxing as she tried to pull me toward the exit. “You already helped. It’s time to go now.”

But I shook my head, unable to ignore her distress. “No. I can’t leave her. She’s scared. She’s going to hurt herself. What if something happens, and she takes a turn for the worse? I need to be here to help. I need—”

“You need to go,” Brentley said, getting into my face. “You’re causing a ruckus, and she won’t be able to calm down until you stop it.”

Fresh tears poured down my cheeks as I focused on Brentley. “But she’s still so weak.”

“I swear to God,” Soren roared, making the fear I felt from Vienne flare hotter. “If he’s not out of this room in five seconds, I’ll murder the High Cliff son of a bitch myself.”

The fucker was certainly welcome to try; see how far that got him. But when I narrowed my eyes his way, Allera tugged on me more insistently.

“No one’s going to be able to focus on helping her until you’re gone. Dammit, Urban, they’ll execute us both. Please!”

I shuddered out a relenting breath and nodded, even as I frowned toward the bed, where I could tell Vienne was still struggling to rise.

“She wants her baby,” I told Nicolette, rushing the words, even as I let Brentley and Allera drag me backward toward the door. “Get her the baby, and she’ll stop struggling. Just get her the damn baby.”

Nicolette bobbed her head and turned toward the crib, hurrying to follow my order.

I tried to get one last glimpse of Vienne, but I could never see her face, just bloody, pale-skinned glimpses here and there through all the people.

Once Allera and Brentley tugged me from the room, I shook free of them and glared. “I can walk on my own.”

Brentley didn’t look so certain, but Allera touched his arm and nodded, letting him know I could be trusted.

Wanting to slam my fist through a wall because they were making me leave, I spun away and stormed back to my chamber.

Vienne was still alive. For that, I was grateful.

And now everyone knew what she was to me, except I couldn’t seem to concern myself with exposure. I was still too pissed I had to be the one to leave. That dick Soren had been making a hundred-times bigger fuss than I had. I’d been the one to save her, too. I should’ve been able to stay.

Except deep down I knew she wouldn’t have wanted me there. With the truth revealed or not, she still didn’t feel the link between us. She didn’t know me. My presence at her bedside wouldn’t have soothed her at all. And that… That was why I wanted to roar in rage and sorrow. I couldn’t be there for her when she needed someone helping her through, when she needed someone who would actually worry about her and want to hold her hand.

I wasn’t what she wanted, and that hurt the most.

Chapter 16

Urban

“Caulder’s postponed our wedding.”

“What?! Why? That’s insane. This is all just insane. I don’t understand why he’s making such a big deal out of this in the first place. People meet their one true love all the time in High Cliff, and no one treats it like some kingdom-wide conspiracy. Urban did nothing wrong!”

Allera’s outraged voice from the other side of my chamber irritated my already-pounding headache until I had to gnash my teeth and press my fists to either side of my temples.

“It’s because of who he mated himself to,” Brentley tried to explain, his tone more logical and soothing, yet it grated on my nerves as well.

Damn. Could they not discuss me in another room?

Besides, what was there to discuss? My sister’s outrage was frankly perplexing. She’d begged and pleaded and demanded I keep my bond to Vienne secret because she feared no one would understand. Now, here we were, and no one unders

tood, yet she was shocked and appalled by their reactions as if she’d never thought to guess they’d behave such a way.

It was strange.

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