Chapter 52 More Lies
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
MORE LIES
ADELINE
His words are a punch to my gut, stealing my breath. I thought… I thought something had changed between us. But maybe Olm was right. Maybe believing in lies makes us happier. The truth is a sword going through my heart, and I deserve it for not seeing it coming.
After all, I wasn’t only taught fairytales but also other, darker tales. I should have read the signs better. I should have taken his comments at face value.
“I see,” Ardruna says. Their voices are closer now. “So what are you suggesting?”
“We have to find a way for her to leave,” Roane says, and I hate that the dark rumble of his voice has desire curling in my belly despite everything.
“And how do you propose we do that?” Ardruna asks. “We all know there is no way out.”
“There has to be something we missed. We should go examine the entrance door again.”
A growl. “Why are you so set on this, Ro?”
“On her going? She’s human. Mortal. She should go home.”
My eyes sting with unshed tears as silence stretches, but I refuse to let them fall.
“Do you disagree?” Roane asks after long moments.
“No. Of course, she should go home if she can. I’m only sad for you. I thought you enjoyed her company.” She pauses. “Is that the reason you want her gone? The real reason? Because it’s what’s good for her?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Roane says quietly.
“Of course it matters. I don’t believe you don’t like her.”
“You should.”
“What are you hiding?” Ardruna demands.
“Fuck you. I’m not hiding anything.”
“Pardon me if I don’t believe you,” she says. “I’m your friend. And you owe me, seeing as you hid how I came into being.”
“You always existed in your story, Druna.” Roane’s voice has dropped so low I barely make it out. “My mistake was pulling you out.”
“A mistake, was it? Dig your grave deeper, why don’t you?”
“Maybe you should go with her,” Roane says. “See if you can leave this world.”
“You know as well as I do that book characters can’t leave this place. And even if I could, I’m not leaving you.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
“Gods above, Ro. What’s the matter with you?”
Talton whistles, the flutter of his wings echoing through the temple. “There you are. Did I hear correctly? There’s a problem?”
“You are my problem,” Roane grinds out. “All of you. Go away and leave me in peace.”
“Gods, you’re beautiful. Since the moment I saw you… I knew you’d break my heart.”
He says such things and then he goes and breaks mine. Why? Why pretend he likes me, desires me, and then say he wants me to go? I can’t trust that persona he donned earlier, not anymore. It was yet another lie. This man is a persistent liar and a deceiver.
I want Naida… I want my mom. I’m a grown-up and it’s embarrassing, and I have to stop.
He didn’t promise you anything, I remind myself. Sure, he said you’d break his heart, but he also said he’d dreamed of getting between your legs. That’s not exactly bonding mate material. It wasn’t a marriage proposal, nor a promise of eternal love. You heard only what you wanted to hear.
I’m shaking. I deceived myself, stopped looking for a way out of this world because… because of him. Admit it, Aline. You wanted to stay with him.
Now that’s cleared up, I inject steel into my spine. Why wouldn’t he want me out of the way? He has his family back. I’m the one who almost broke them apart by poking my nose into his business. His words, not mine. He doesn’t need me around.
He never has.
I step out from behind the column and I know the moment they notice me because they both stop and stare. I lift my chin, swearing to myself not to let them see how upset I am.
“Welcome back,” I say.
Ardruna growls. “How much did you hear?”
“I heard enough.”
Talton flutters down to land on her back. “I only caught the tail-end of the conversation, so what did I miss? Will someone fill me in?”
Roane is silent, his gaze pinning me like a moth to a board. His jaw is set, his brows shadowing his eyes.
“Roane said there might be a way to get Aline out of here,” Ardruna eventually says.
“Out of the temple?”
Ardruna hums. “Out of this world.”
“That’s impossible,” Talton says. “Nobody can escape this world.”
“But what if there is a way? You’d like to go home, right?” Ardruna gives me a look that manages to be both sympathetic and annoyed.
“Of course.” I scowl at them. “Who wouldn’t want to get away from you lot?”
Ardruna and Talton leave soon after to hunt, but for some reason, Roane lingers. He crouches down and starts the fire going, long black hair hiding his face.
I stand beside him, telling myself not to ask but unable to hold back. The hurt smarts too badly. “You told Ardruna you don’t like me. I heard you, you know.”
“Of course I don’t like you.”
I wince. “Oh, great. I could have sworn you sang a different tune last night with your face between my legs.”
His mouth compresses into a thin line. “I wanted to fuck you. That’s all. You’re confused, human.”
“Then why didn’t you fuck me?” I throw the crude words back at him. “If that was all you wanted?”
“I got bored with you before I even started.”
Gritting my teeth, I fold my arms over my chest. “I see. Well, good thing you caught yourself before you lost control. Oh, wait, I forgot. You came in your pants, didn’t you?”
His lips pull back, baring his sharp teeth. “I was fantasizing about someone else.”
“Who, the goblins? The centaur queen? Any other kinks I should know about?”
“There’s nothing about me you should know. Do you really think you’re the only woman who’s ever caught my fancy? I—”
A crack. A shake. Roane turns around, eyes widening before he schools his expression.
“And that’s another thing,” I grumble. “What’s going on with the temple? Is it falling apart?”
He shakes his head and returns to fixing the fire. “It’s an old temple.”
“And what’s going on with you? Why—?”
“Let’s end this useless conversation here and now,” he grinds out. “Being with you was a mistake. Stop humiliating yourself. Or are you going to crawl and beg?”
“Like you did?”
“I never beg.”
No, he didn’t beg, did he? I turn away from him, trying to control my temper and rising despair. He’s baiting me, putting this on me and I… I want back the caring, gentle Roane, the Roane who wanted me.
Another pang of nostalgia for home hits me. There, things were sometimes uncertain but also simple and easy. My adoptive family loves me and I love them. No games. No doubts.
“I was reading more of your journal,” I say.
He snarls. “Didn’t I tell you to leave it be?”
“You keep forgetting that it’s a librarian’s log, not a personal journal.
It’s property of the crown, as per the contract you signed to come here.
You can’t stop me from reading it. Sometimes I think you’re hiding something, Roane.
” I take a deep breath and force a smile on my lips as I turn back toward him.
A mask to his mask. “I think I know why your magic failed. You opened the Book of Areon. That’s what changed everything. ”
“I didn’t open it,” he says slowly. “It was already open.”
“That’s not what you said in your journal. It was closed, but you were about to give in and open it.”
He shrugs. “I can’t recall.”
I stare at him in disbelief. His face is pale, high cheekbones cut from white marble. His attention isn’t entirely on me, I realize. He’s gazing into the temple, in the direction of the crack we heard earlier.
“Well, if I’m boring you yet again,” I say on an exhale, “then I’ll just have to find a way to get out of your hair, won’t I? You’ll be glad to see my back. The passage about your cousin’s visit touched my heart, but you obviously don’t want human or fae company anymore.”
“I don’t have a cousin,” he mutters.
My hands curl into fists. “It’s right there in your journal. And what was the incident with Merhill?”
“I don’t know anyone by that name.”
“Gods, Roane, enough lies!” I struggle with tears.
“You’re sick. In your diary, you wrote how your cousin visited you, and then left again.
You spoke of the incident with Merhill. It’s all in there.
” I jab a finger at the nest where I left the journal.
“If there’s a way out of this place, by the Gods, I’ll find it so I won’t have to see your face ever again. ”