Chapter 30 #2
I’m too far away to hear the words whispered between them, and I’m glad for it. His final words will forever be embedded in her heart.
Harold smiles, though it’s pained. His eyes fall closed. His chest stops moving.
I listen for Cate’s cries, but they are drowned out by the wail coming from Lady M. Her mouth drops open in shock, though I’m not sure if it’s due to her husband’s death or the fact that it actually emotionally affects her.
She staggers, like some force has physically knocked her back.
Her chest heaves with uneven breaths and she has to brace herself against the wall.
She pushes Cate out of the way, her body draping itself over Harold’s as if it could shield him from what’s already come to pass.
She seems to forget in this moment that this is what she planned for all along, that she was poisoning the man her soul is supposed to be bound to.
For a single, solitary click of a second, I feel sorry for her. With the agony of losing her Bonded husband, even her cold heart must have shattered.
Before any of us can move, before any of us have the chance to use this moment of her grief to our advantage, she rips the dagger from his chest and pushes herself up from the stone floor.
“This isn’t over,” she whispers to Cate, ice coating her words.
With one final look at her dead husband, she stumbles from the room, her keening cries echoing through the halls, the bloody knife leaving a dripping trail in her wake.
Cate doesn’t move, doesn’t try to leave Harold’s side. Until her eyes meet mine. Hers are full of tears.
She staggers over to me, collapsing in a puddle next to me. Her arm is bleeding heavily, but she comes for me, her hands pressing to the open wound at my stomach.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she mutters the refrain tearfully, over and over and over. “You should have been the one. I’m so sorry, Callum. What have I done?”
I grasp her cheek with my hand, wincing at the smear of blood I leave on her skin. “Stop. You’re alive. That’s all that matters. I love you, Cate, so much.”
“I love you too, Cal. I need to get Bianca.” The words come out as barely a gasp, her face going scarily pale. She tries to rise but can’t get her feet under her.
My vision blurs, but I try to help her stand. I search for the source of her bleeding to stanch it, but it’s hard to tell whose blood is whose, and where it’s all coming from.
“Hang on,” she tells me, her voice faint and garbled.
Her face is the last thing I see.
—
I come to with her name on my lips, it croaking out of me before my eyes are fully opened.
A glass of water is pressed to my lips, and I sip gratefully.
My eyes flutter open and it takes me a minute to recognize my surroundings. I’m back in my suite at Scotan Castle, tucked into the same bed I’ve been sleeping in since I was a child.
I search for her, and my vision finally focuses on the hand holding out the glass of water.
She smiles down at me, though it’s strained. Dark circles paint her under eyes; she looks too pale, too thin. The arm holding the cup of water is wrapped in a bandage. “Welcome back, Your Highness.”
I take the glass from her and set it on the table next to the bed before pulling her into my arms. One hand works its way into the long waves of her hair, the other pressing flat to the small of her back, holding her close enough that I can feel the echo of her heartbeat.
Her heart is still beating.
“I’m happy to see you too,” she murmurs against the shell of my ear.
“Is everyone okay?”
She pulls away just enough to nod. “Bianca was on her way to us before we could even go to her. She healed everyone. She’s been asleep ever since.” Worry for her friend mars her face.
“Lady M?” I’m scared to ask, but I need to know that she’s truly gone.
“Disappeared. No one has seen or heard from her.” The distress on her face echoes my own. Disappeared doesn’t mean gone forever, especially considering her parting words.
“And Harold?” I grip her hand in mine, knowing the truth before she voices it.
“He’s gone. It was an accident, but you killed him, Cal. I know it’s hard to imagine, but he would have wanted it this way, I’m sure of it.” She pulls away from me.
My brow furrows. My head still feels like mush, but I’m aware enough to know that’s not right. “What do you mean, I killed him?”
She sits up, putting space between us that I don’t want. “I mean, as far as anyone outside this room is concerned, you killed him.”
I reach for her hand. She lets me lace our fingers together, but hers remain limp in my hold. “We both know that’s not what happened.”
She shrugs, avoiding my gaze. “It’s what should have happened. You were meant to be the leader of your people, Callum. And now you will be. He told me, before he died, that the poison was still in him. He was going to die anyway, and he meant for you to be the one to do it.”
“Cate…”
She returns her eyes to mine and they are determined.
“I already told everyone that’s what happened.
The newspapers have reported it. The killing period has ended.
You are the Scotan candidate for the first presidential election of Avon, Callum.
” Her smile is weak and a bit sad. “You are going to be the president this country needs, Your Highness.”
She tries to pull away again, but I keep a tight hold on her hand. “I don’t think I can do this without you. I almost lost you, and even the thought of facing a single day without you was too much for me, Cate. I need you. And I know you need me too.”
She studies the wall as if it’s the most interesting piece of art. “I do.”
But it doesn’t sound like she means it. I search for the Bond, the tie that has linked us since our very first meeting. There’s still a heat there, deep in my veins, and if I focus hard enough, I can feel the itch. But it’s strained, like one of us is resisting the connection.
I know it’s not me.
Somehow, with all the loss of the last week, this is the one that hurts the most.