40. Prince Cole
Chapter 40
Prince Cole
“The heart was made to be broken.”
— Oscar Wilde
“ D avina, don’t!” I shout, but she’s already sprinting through the door, straight into death.
I run after her, grabbing her arm in a desperate attempt to pull her back. She kicks and punches me, her breaths coming in ragged gasps as her fists slam into my chest. “Davina, stop!”
“Let me go!” Each word is punctuated by harsh gasps, and I can see tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
“What the hell is going on here?” I snap at Rafe, who’s standing there frozen, looking just as confused as I feel.
Davina wriggles free, gasping for air as she stumbles away. I can’t make sense of what’s happening. I try to restrain her again, my heart racing with dread.
“You’re going to die!” I yell.
“I need to breathe — ” she pants, clutching her throat as if the very air is suffocating her. “I need? — ”
“Rafe, what have you done to her?” I demand, my blood boiling.
Davina bolts, and I’m officially going crazy.
Absolutely insane.
She’s going to die any minute.
I glance back at Rafe, who still stands frozen, his expression one of shock.
“Rafe, I’m going to murder?—”
“I swear, Cole, I don’t know what’s happening!”
Davina collapses to the ground, and my blood runs cold.
It feels like every breath has been yanked from my lungs.
I rush to her, my hands trembling as I scoop her into my lap.
Her eyelids flutter slightly, as if she’s caught in a dream, but the stillness of her body sends a cold wave of panic coursing through me.
“Please,” I beg, “just open your eyes, okay? Let me see those goddamn brown eyes I want to wake up to every day.”
But she doesn’t.
My heart cracks in my chest.
It feels like I’m dying right here with her.
I grind my teeth, ready to skin Rafe alive. I stand, and in my blinding rage, I almost don’t notice how she sucks in a deep breath.
She’s breathing.
She’s alive.
Relief floods over me, so overwhelming I can barely process it.
I crouch beside her, my heart hammering. “Hey,” I whisper, holding her close. “You’re okay.”
Before I can fully grasp the relief, she jolts upright.
Her face hardens into an icy mask of rage. “Don’t touch me,” she hisses, her voice a cold blade. “Never touch me again.”
I back up, hands raised, my heart twisting painfully at her words. Her eyes, though filled with fury, are undeniably the brown eyes I pleaded to see. They pierce through me with an intensity that’s both heartbreaking and terrifying.
“Darling, you need to tell me what happened.”
“Don’t darling me.”
“Someone needs to fucking tell me what happened!”
I inch closer, and she stumbles backward, her face full of disdain.
She turns and bolts toward the forest, and I sprint after her, adrenaline surging through my veins.
“Let me go!” she screams, struggling against my grip, her voice raw with rage.
“Not until you tell me what happened! You’re pushing me away, and I don’t know why!” My fists clench with the urge to choke the truth out of her. “You won’t leave me. Do you hear me, Davina?”
“Don’t you dare pretend you care about me!”
“But I do fucking care?—”
“Stop lying!” she snaps with a bitterness I’ve never heard from her before.
Is this really happening?
“You’re crazy if you think I’ll let you out of my sight.”
“Why?” she spits. “Because I’m your prisoner?”
“What?” That’s what she thinks she is? “No?—”
“If any of your words about how you feel for me are true, you’ll let me leave this palace. If you want me to ever forgive you, stop holding me back.”
“Forgive me for what?” I ask desperately.
I want to pull her into my arms and lock her inside, because the way she looks at me makes me fear she never wants to see me again.
No.
“Davina, I don’t want to?—”
“Lose me?” She scoffs and walks away. “You can’t lose what you don’t have.”
I want to shake her until she sees the insanity of her words. Every fiber of my being wants to follow her, but I can’t bear the thought of disappointing her by ignoring her pleas.
She said it loud and clear. She doesn’t want me to stop her. And I’d rather hate myself for letting her go than disrespect her boundaries.
“Fine, go get yourself killed,” I say, feigning indifference. “See if I care.”
Rafe snaps out of his daze, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.
I have. Clearly.
Suddenly, he bolts after her.
He’s fast, but before he can reach her, he’s thrown back, screaming in pain as he crashes to the ground.
Disbelief washes over me.
She unleashed her power to stop him, and it feels like a brutal slap across my face—she despises me so deeply she’d rather harm Rafe than let him bring her back to me.
I almost laugh, because some part of me enjoys the torment.
I really don’t deserve her.
The girl who risks dying, just to get away from me.
The girl who cheated death.
Of course this is the girl I would fall for.
“Good luck!” she screams, but I can’t even see her anymore, her figure swallowed by the forest. “Good luck saving your fiancée!”
Confusion and anger slam into me with such force that my hand strikes out before I can stop it. Blood spills from Rafe’s mouth, his words drowned out by my fury.
“You bastard .”
He spits in response, a tooth flying from his mouth, but I barely register it.
Bending close to his battered face, my voice drops to a deadly whisper, my hand gripping his throat. “Why are you filling her head with lies?” One final, brutal blow, and he collapses into unconsciousness. “You crossed a fucking line.”