Page 61 of The HalloQueen

“She stays out of this,” I growled, “you do not talk to her, you do not approach her, you do not put a single finger on her or touch an ounce of her energy, do you understand me? You leave her alone.”

Yusuf raised his hands in surrender, “I didn’t know when I went there that the scent wasn’t you, my love.”

“Well, now you do. If she tells me that she sees you again our next conversation will not be a kind one.Oui?” Yus sighed. “Yusuf, look at me. Leave her alone.”

“If I found her, what makes you think Monique won’t?”

“Because Monique is traipsing about Europe apparently, as you were.”

“No, Thomas. I don’t think she is. Why do you think I’m here?”

My fangs elongated and the taste of copper filled my mouth when they punctured my bottom lip, “Why are you here, Yusuf? Is it, yet again, because I’m not enough, but you need me to be the fixer? That was what our life was, right? You were the peacekeeper, she was the passion and I was the fixer. The three of us worked together seamlessly. So I’m assuming without her passion in the equation that you’re here to tell me that you wouldn’t have come back just to be with me? You wouldn’t have worked to find me unless somehow you thought Monique had come back?Merde!And I thought I knew you.” Tension radiated from him - I’d hit the nail on the head. I released an unstable breath, “Just say it, Yus. There’s nothing left to salvage anyway.”

I felt the facade melt from him, exposing the hopeless male in front of me, he morphed before my eyes from a regretful lover to someone who only needed my help, “There’s nothing left to save? That’s quite the statement.”

“It is the truth, the bond is broken, we owe each other nothing. Now tell me why you’re here so you can leave.” My mind wandered to my Annabel, and I became desperate to hold her, to have her calm me. To hold me in her arms and let me feel her affection and validate my worth despite the horrible words she’d spoken to me. I neededherto fixme.

“She and I are still bonded. You may have severed both ties, but you only severed one for the two of us. I can still feel her and everything I have found has indicated that she’s coming this way if she isn’t already here and that she is sick. I think she is realizing she’s unwell and is coming to you to fix it - because, yes, you always fixed everything for her. She needs you. We need to let her come to you to ensure she is healthy and well.”

“And if she’s not? What if she comes to me and she’s too far gone?”

He sniffed and shifted his feet nervously in the sand, “I don’t want to think about that.”

“Well, it’s something that needs to be thought about. If you’re asking me to murder our wife then you damn well better have come here to do it yourself. Especially as you are the one here that is a bonded partner to her still.”

“You know I can’t do that. If for no other reason than I am the one bonded to her. It would destroy me to hurt her.” It was true that Yus was the peacekeeper in the relationship. He was the one who did whatever he could to smooth the waters and whatever he could to help keep us going. He would always help. He was the balm between Monique’s fire and my ice.

I barked out a razor sharp laugh, “You really went through all the trouble of finding me after a year to sit next to me, pretending that you still loved me-”

“I didn’t - “

“Let me finish,” I glared at him, “You came here, ready to act like we were going to reconcile enough that when Monique showed up that…what, that we’d go back to being a happy family? Or that she’d show up and be unsavable and you wanted me to take care of it? And what if I killed her? What if I somehow managed to get her to the Coalition to save her, or if I had to kill her, were you planning on staying? Were you going to be with me regardless of if she ever showed up? How long were you going to wait before abandoning me again? How exactly did you see this playing out? Were we just going to play house until you got bored and left again?”

“Thomas that isn’t fair. We both know that she was very clear that if she was ever to fall to the Undead that she wanted to be executed. She didn’t want to become one of them.”

“And you came here to make me deal with it.”

“I came here to tell you what was happening, Thomas. I came here because you deserved to know.”

“Well, thank you,” I spat. “You’ve told me. I’m done being around you right now. I need time to process this.”

Yus sat quietly for a while, looking out at the water, before sighing and patting his knees and standing, “Okay, Thomas. I have a room here in town for the week. Can we meet in a few days and try to have this conversation again?”

I looked up at him, “so you can see if I’ll do what you want next time?”

“So we can save our wife, Thomas.”

“She isn’t my wife anymore, and you’re not my husband anymore, Yus. I owe you nothing.”

He huffed a shocked laugh at my bluntness, “Okay then. I’ll check in before I leave town again. Here’s my number. Take a few days to simmer down, Thomas. We do not have to be enemies. Don’t throw 200 years away because your feelings got hurt.” He handed me a piece of paper with his number and where he was staying on it.

“Goodnight, Yus.”

“Bonsoir, mon amour.”

25

ANNABEL

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