62. Chapter 62
Chapter 62
Cain
I don’t care. It would be ridiculous if I cared — this is the woman who’s kidnapped me, who’s lying to me, who’s actively trying to bring me to my knees. And besides, out of all the emotions, jealousy is the most pathetic one.
None of it helps. There’s this gaping hole in my chest that makes me keep replaying the words — almost certain they really did mean he used to be involved with her — and when we use the Pull to get back to the Entrance Hall and my eyes land on him again, even the urge to bash his bloody head in is still there.
Balling my hands into fists, I look away. As we walk towards the Main Hall, I don’t even allow myself to glance at them. It’s enough that I almost lost control back there.
I’m a sword, I chant to myself, and a sword doesn’t care either way.
My head keeps swarming with all the questions I’m dying to learn the answers to — how long did it last, what was it, does she still have feelings for him…
Still, I manage to keep my composure. But then I feel her throw a look over her shoulder and I fail to stop my eyes from darting to her.
Mine , that hidden part of me growls.
She turns back ahead, the hole in my chest grows larger, and I keep following, but now I’m thinking… . What’s the harm in asking a simple question?
I come to block his way. He stops midstep, surprise flashing through his eyes. Registering everyone else come to a stop, I put all my focus into keeping my voice flat. “So you and the Aurora, huh?”
It makes me grit my teeth, when I realize I did not manage to sound casual. With the corner of my eye, I spot her frown, but there’s no turning back now.
Dryden just looks at me for a moment. “Would that bother you, big shot?” he sneers.
The fucking…
“Cain,” she calls out with a plea in her voice, but I’m already getting in the asshole’s face. It makes me feel smug, when he stumbles back a little. “Not a bit,” I tell him with a smirk. “But why won’t you answer the question?” I ask softly, shoving at his chest.
I register her moving to take me by the upper arm, but it’s Dryden who stops her. He’s no longer sneering. Instead, he throws me an obviously fake but polite smile. “I think it’s one you should ask the Aurora, isn’t it?”
A bitter laugh escapes me. “No,” I say with a shake of my head, “the Aurora only ever tells lies, but you… ” I scan him from head to toe, more bitterness flooding my mouth as the images flash through my mind, of every time I saw her laugh at one of his lame jokes. I make my voice mockingly saccharine. “You seem like such a stand-up guy, right? Someone a woman could be truly happy with, right, if goodness and happiness and all that shit were something you believed in?”
“Cain,” I hear her say, her tone a warning one this time.
We both ignore her. “I like to think that I am, yes,” Dryden replies through gritted teeth.
“So why are you no longer involved then?” I insist.
Shaking his head, he lets out a tired sigh. “I’m not playing this game with you.”
But his calm demeanor only gets me more worked up, making me want to pay him back for acting holier-than-thou in front of her. I let out an angry scoff. “ I’ll give you an idea of why you stopped.”
“Is anyone going to stop this train wreck?” MacArthur Junior asks, but I keep my eyes fixed on the asshole.
I don’t wait for him to reply. “You broke up because you’re not a big enough fish for her,” I say with a smirk. “It happened when I turned up, didn’t it? Jumping from some pathetic Resistance member to a general is substantial, at least it would be, if I let her spin me around her finger.”
But now it’s not just Dryden looking at me as if he’s feeling sorry for me. It’s all of them, including her. My stomach sinks and I feel this irresistible compulsion to wreak some havoc in their little paradise. “But you know why the whole situation is even more pathetic?” I find myself asking.
I watch Dryden frown.
Gritting my teeth, I lean a little closer. “It’s because, no matter what she does, it will forever be a jump down . Because she’s already had and lost the most powerful man alive. Because my father will never want anything to do with her ever again.”
“Again?” I hear MacArthur Junior ask. “What do you mean, again ?”
I turn to look at her. “Ah, your precious Aurora never told you, did she? She somehow failed to mention that that mortal enemy of yours used to be the man she welcomed into her bed?”
There’s a moment of silence during which all they do is stare at me. “What did you just say?” the witch herself whispers as she comes to stand between me and Dryden.
I take a step back, content with the reactions I managed to elicit. It’s with a smirk that I walk around her and head straight for the Main Hall. But the moment I turn my back to her, the contentment disappears.
“Is that why you hate me so much?” I hear her call out after me.
I don’t answer. I just grit my teeth, because the hole in my chest is still there, and I have no idea what to do with it.