Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Mom was standing in my driveway when I pulled in. I wanted to change my clothes and grab a few things before I went to Caelan.
“Everything okay?” I asked when I got out of the car.
“Fine.” She smiled. “I wanted to check on you and see how things were going with Lugh.”
Dead end on the Lugh front. “I haven’t heard a peep from him. No one has anything bad to say, and I can’t find any evidence of wrongdoing. It’s maddening.”
I opened the wards and invited Mom in. She blinked in hesitation, then stepped inside. “We can talk while I change.”
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m off to see if Caelan is cheating on me.”
Mom’s sure steps hitched. I opened the door and went inside, but she was frozen on the porch, staring at me with eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s a long story.”
“One I want to hear.” Mom stepped inside and shut the door. “Have time for a cup of coffee?”
“I’ll take one to go, if you don’t mind.”
Mom waved me away. “Go get changed and I’ll make a pot.”
Five minutes later, Mom handed me a filled thermal cup. I’d put on a pair of stylish but comfortable boots, wool slacks, and a blue cashmere sweater.
“Would you like some company?”
Me and Mom on a stakeout to stalk my boyfriend? “Yes, if you have time.”
Mom grinned. “Of course I have time.
“I promised Simone I wouldn’t cause a scene.”
She nodded gravely. “I promised nothing of the sort.” Mom held up a finger and went back to the kitchen to pour herself a to-go mug. “We’ll play catch up in the car.”
Caelan’s car was parked in the restaurant lot, sending my already plummeting spirits even lower.
“Are we going in?” Mom asked.
“I’m going in. I won’t interrupt, but I do want to see how…cozy things are.”
Mom’s eyes turned soft. “Be absolutely sure before you do or say something you can’t take back.”
I nodded and slid out of the car.
The restaurant was small, tasteful, and filled with customers. I waved the hostess away. “I see my party,” I said, pointing in a random direction as I sailed past.
There was only one dining room making it easy to see Caelan, but he didn’t notice me. Rachel sat with her back toward the door. She wore a halter dress, showcasing the smooth, tan skin of her back. Her hair was left down and loose, falling in a wave of soft curls.
And Caelan looked absolutely enamored. I swallowed hard and moved closer to see their hands clasped on top of the table.
My eyes burned. Remembering my promise to Simone, I did my best to clear my mind and heart of the humiliation and fury I felt and stopped at the edge of their table. Caelan looked up and froze. His brow furrowed and he looked down at his hand, only to yank it away from Rachel.
“Evie!” he said in surprise.
“Hi.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”
Rachel leaned forward and smiled, satisfaction dripping in her expression. “Hello, Evie. I’m surprised to see you here. It takes ages to get a reservation.”
The arrow hit its mark. Caelan’s chest rumbled. “Rachel.”
She turned those wicked eyes to him. “Yes, darling.”
I felt my lips pull back from my teeth. The glasses on the table rattled together, and I knew I was about to lose it. “I just wanted to come by and make sure you knew what you were doing.” I gave him a tight smile. “It looks like you do.”
“Evie—” Caelan put his napkin on the table and made to stand.
“No, that’s really unnecessary.” I tilted my head in acknowledgment. “I would have appreciated a text or a phone call, but maybe this is better.”
Seeing him touch someone with so much propriety had ripped my heart in two, but it had ripped the film off my eyes.
Seeing this with my own two eyes told me he’d made a choice.
And maybe if I hadn’t seen this, he would have kept me on the line and Rachel as well, though I know, even though I thought she was a massive twat, that she wouldn’t stand for being second choice either.
“Would you like to stay?” Rachel asked. “Caelan and I are discussing future plans for the Keep.”
Another clever knife stab. “No thanks. I have someone waiting for me in the car. Can’t keep them waiting for much longer.”
“Who?” Caelan’s storm-colored eyes met mine.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll have Simone pack up the things I left over there and drop them off.” I inclined my head to both of them. “I wish you the best of luck.”
Caelan didn’t fight for himself or me. He made no excuses and didn’t deny what I was seeing or how it would affect us. And that made it so much worse. I tried not to cry as I turned to go.
“Evie. Wait.” Caelan rose and walked over, taking me by the elbow. He led me over to the restroom area and stood so close I pressed myself against the wall.
“Are you going to tell me this isn’t what it looks like?”
“She’s a shifter.” Stab. “We’re better suited to each other.” Stab. “I never meant to hurt you.” Stab.
I swallowed hard, refusing to let him see me cry.
“All those times you fought for us. All those times I told you why we shouldn’t be together, and you make me discover you out on the town with another woman without giving me the courtesy of at least telling me beforehand?
This is a small town. Everyone is going to know what this is. ”
“I thought we could make it work.” His words were soft, but there was no real fire behind them. His expression wasn’t hurt or wounded. Caelan sounded like he was speaking to a friend and not someone he loved.
Every time he spoke, his words made another jagged wound in my soul.
“But you and I…we aren’t compatible enough to produce heirs.”
I froze. “Excuse me?”
“Rachel is a shifter. Born and pure blooded. Your blood is tainted.” His words were so…flat and unemotional. This was not the man I loved.
My hand clenched into a fist. “Do you hear yourself? The horrible things you’re saying to me? You never accused me of being tainted before. What changed?”
“Everything,” Caelan said simply. “We’ve always had difficulty in our relationships because we come from two different worlds.” He lowered his voice. “You revealed yourself as a Chimera and became heir to the Fae King. I am a Lord. What path forward do we have?”
Every word was a stone pelting against my skin. “Why did you ask me to marry you?”
Caelan’s brow furrowed. He blinked a few times, opened his mouth, and snapped it shut. The next word he said made everything inside me shut down. “Honor.”
“Honor,” I said hoarsely. “You felt duty bound to make me your wife?”
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “That’s what one does in a relationship, the natural order of things.”
I didn’t know this man standing before me. He looked like Caelan. He smelled like Caelan. But the Caelan I knew would never have spoken to me this way. The man I loved loved me. Or I thought he had.
“I see. And Rachel?”
“We’ve had our differences before, but a match with her is advantageous.”
The ground rumbled under my feet.
He clicked his tongue. “Your emotional volatility is another reason why a match between us would never work.”
A woman stepped into the hall, eyes blazing with power. She pointed at Caelan. “I’ve heard enough. Step away from my daughter.”
“Mom.” I pinched the space between my brows. “I’ve got it.”
“No one speaks down to the fae heir.” Her eyes snapped to me. “You are a princess of a powerful kingdom, and the heir to the entire fae realm. Caelan should be bowing and scraping at your feet, not insulting you.”
“I bow to no one.”
Mom’s lips pulled back from her teeth. “KNEEL.”
The command in her voice made my bones hurt. Caelan slammed to the floor, his knees cracking like gunshots. “You might be a Lord, boy, but you are no king. There are few more powerful than my daughter, and you would be gods blessed to have her hand.”
Caelan’s jaw clenched with rage, his eyes glowing burnished gold as he struggled against the command. “This,” he growled. “This is the reason. You think you’re better than us—”
“I don’t,” I whispered.
He scoffed. “Your father doesn’t think I’m good enough for you, so why should I stay here, knowing he thinks I could never rise to his standards of power?”
This never mattered before. Or had he stayed silent about everything? “I don’t care what he thinks.”
“It doesn’t matter. I never said I’d take the crown. I—all I wanted was you.” The words were a whisper, overridden by my breaking heart.
I looked at my mother, still incandescent with rage. “Let him up, please.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed. Power rose in the air, and I wondered for a brief, horrifying moment whether she would kill him. I touched her arm. “Let’s go.”
Rachel made the mistake of coming around the corner just then. “Caelan?”
Mom turned, magic glittering from her skin. “You,” she hissed. “You’re responsible for this.”
Rachel, who had far more beauty than brains, made the mistake of smiling. “Caelan needed to see what else was out there. It’s not my fault he made the better choice.”
Mom’s laugh was a jagged, violent thing. She swept her hand out at an angle. Rachel was there one moment and gone the next, the sound of shattering glass and screams careening through the restaurant.
I bent down and touched Caelan’s cheek. “I’m sorry it has come to this.
I loved you very, very much, and nothing would have stood in the way of marrying you.
I know we’ve had our differences, and I know that a lot of our issues were due to some things beyond our control and some due to our own experiences.
But I never doubted you. Not until this moment. ”
Caelan’s brow furrowed once more as if he was confused by what I was saying, but then his expression cleared. “I do not regret my decision.”
“Then I’ll learn not to regret mine,” I said and turned to walk away.
I touched Mom’s arm once more. She shook with rage but finally released the hold she had on Caelan.
“If I scent you around Evie’s property again, your life is forfeit.”
Her words rang in the air with the magic of prophecy, a shimmering veil settling over us all. A death vow signed and sealed by a powerful, ancient goddess.
Caelan smiled. “You’ve no need to worry. I have no need of your daughter any longer.”
My fingers clenched around my mother’s arm, and I released a shuddering breath.
“It’s not too late,” Mom hissed.
“You can’t murder someone in public,” I said, amused despite everything.
Mom snorted. “Of course I can. This place holds no laws over a fae.”
“Yes, but it’s morally wrong.” I pulled my mother away while Caelan struggled to rise.
Mom snorted. “Morals are a human construct.”
“Yes, and I live in the human world.”
“Exactly,” Mom said, allowing me to tug her out of the restaurant.
We both pretended not to see the gaping hole in the restaurant wall where Mom had tossed Rachel through.
So much for not causing a scene