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As soon as it comes alive, I send James an email. A long paragraph of my decision to quit the lab for good and retire in some unnamed farm town. He doesn’t need to know more than that. I’ve given him enough details to keep him convinced of my decision.
With a smile, I hit “send” and hurried out of the lab. It’s time, I decide—time to put my trepidations to rest and make the leap of faith.
It’s not like I didn’t glimpse a change in Aragon. Underneath the protective layers of guarding he shelters himself with lies a man I can see a future with. It will take some time, but it’s time we have now.
I slow my steps as I near the study on the second floor, lugging in deep breaths to compose myself. This is the moment I’d been avoiding—the one where I finally replied to the question he’d left me with.
“What if I don’t want you to leave?”
Biting my bottom lip as I contemplate how I’ll reply to him at last, I hear the indistinct chatter from inside the study. I quietly steal to the door, pressing my ear there.
“... This isn’t some fairytale like Draco and Lily, unfortunately,” I hear Aragon’s voice inside the room.
“It’s what you make of it, brother,” comes Felix’s reply.
Frowning, I realize they're talking about us. Aragon and I.
“I’m sticking to my initial decision,” Aragon declares. I hear him sniff before he goes on, “Once she’s given me children, she’s to leave the island.”
My jaw drops when I’m stunned by his words. As if a hot branding iron had just pressed onto my heart. Everything slips through my fingers—the future I’d been looking forward to… My response to his question…
“What if I don’t want you to leave?”
“What if I said I’ll stay forever?” is what I would have said to him and watched as his eyes sparkled with wonder.
He’s just ripped that joy from me, that fantasy crushed by what he just told Felix.
My head begins to pound, my heart racing in my chest. Aragon had given me false hope with that one question that remains unanswered between us. I’d mulled over it for a week, only for my heart to be shattered into a million tiny pieces.
Just when I’d let my guard down… Just when I thought I could be open to something more…
The pain slicing through my chest is too much to bear. As the floodgates of tears spill from my eyes, I make a beeline for the staircase, not wanting to linger in the hallway in case he comes out. I rush down the stairs, almost tumbling down the last few steps but managing to grab the railing to steady myself.
I have to be careful. In my current state, I might just collapse. I can’t afford to—I need to get as far away from here as possible.
My surroundings flash past both sides of my vision in a blur with how fast I run. Oblivious to whatever I’m passing or where I’m headed, I just run as fast as my feet can.
I can’t believe I was foolish enough to think he wanted me around. He’s a self-centered, self-absorbed bastard who couldn’t care less. Knowing what I know now, he probably only asked me that question to see my reaction.
Hah!
He must get off on feeling important, I think scornfully as blood p0ulses through my veins. I stop only to catch my breath, realizing where I am and feeling the color drain from my face.
I’m on the rugby field.
Could my luck be any worse than this?
“Look who it is…” A bitter voice chimes from behind.
I snap my head around and realize that my luck is worsening when the group of bullies who had me cornered before come closing in from every side.
This time, Aragon isn’t around to save me from their scorn.
Chapter 25 - Aragon
“It’s not as easy as you think, Felix,” I sigh discontentedly. “She’s not even remotely interested in me.”
Felix chuckles. “Then why would she agree to stay here?”
