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“No, Aaron, please,” she pleads as she lifts her face out of her hands. “There’s nothing we can do to change this.”
“So run away with me,” I offer.
Delilah stares at me as a stray tear rolls down her cheek. “I—I can’t do that. My loyalty lies with the coven, Aaron. I’m sorry.”
As Delilah stands up to leave, I quickly get to my feet too. I reach out and grab her wrist, stopping her from leaving.
“Delilah…” I call softly when she refuses to meet my eyes. “We can figure this out.”
She doesn’t turn to face me, driving in the despondence of what she just admitted. It’s like my heart doesn’t just fall, but gets buried six feet underground.
“Goodbye, Aaron,” are her final words to me as she removes her hand from beneath my trembling fingers. The loss of her warmth swallows me like a raging fire, cold and brutal from the rejection I’m faced with as I watch her leave the restaurant.
I’m frozen to the spot, unable to move until the waiter comes back and says something I can’t make sense of. None of it matters—not the meal, not my birthday. Nothing.
I feel… Numb.
It’s only when the torrent of emotions crushing my world finally leaves a dystopic scene behind, anger is what remains.
Anger at Delilah for crushing my dreams. Anger at myself for allowing this to go as far as it did.
It’s in that moment that I make the firm oath to never love again.
***
“Aragon!” Kairo has her hand on my shoulder, practically shaking me out of my daze. A horrific memory of the ultimate heartbreak is something I wish I didn’t have to envision. But it’s there, as vivid as the reality before my eyes. Thanks to the day of the year, I wish we wouldn’t be celebrating.
“Huh?” I turn to my sister, still mildly dazed.
“Stryder asked if he could take breakfast for Yazmine,” she says.
“What—Yeah. Of course he can,” I murmur, turning to my brother. “It’s not like you need my permission.”
The twins exchange confused glances when it hits me. I’d ordered everyone not to be kind to the human. Instead, they should remain hostile toward her so she doesn’t get too comfortable. In the end, she’ll leave the island. There’s no point in her making friends around here.
“Has she taken your samples yet?” I ask the twins.
Stryker shakes his head, grimacing. “That’s why we were supposed to go there before breakfast.”
“I wonder if she can take the samples after all that cake,” Stryder burps.
Rolling my eyes, I’m about to make a snide remark when I feel a hand rest on my shoulder.
“Son,” father addresses me. I nod when I see the seriousness on his face, and I step out from behind the table. Joining him in the kitchen, it’s a little more private here, with everyone still fussing over mother’s fruit cake.
“Father?”
My father has a hand perched under his chin as if in deep thought. “The bones you discovered… Have you found out if they belong to our clan?”
“Not yet, father. The human is currently studying them. That’s why she needs DNA samples.”
Father nods slowly. “I’m not entirely sure, but I think the remains are Grandfather’s remains.”
“Grandfather?” I gasp. “What makes you think that?”
Father takes a deep, unsteady breath. “During the war, my father went missing. We couldn’t trace his body since the technology back then wasn’t as advanced as it is now. If it is—”
I place a hand on father’s shoulder, realizing the magnitude of Yazmine’s findings. For centuries, father searched for Grandfather’s remains to no avail. This is the first time we might be moving toward something promising.
