Most of all, I hated how much his suggestion had hurt me.
I knew he had meant it as a solution. But it had highlighted that, deep down, a half-fae half-witch prince was still a man.
I said, “Goodbye.” I meantgood riddance.
Keelynn blew through the door, her dark hair disheveled as she started for the hallway.
Rían’s feminine lips flattened. “Aveen, last night I said something I—”
“You think I want to discuss last night?” I barked a laugh. That wasn’t happening. “I never want to speak of it again. As far as I’m concerned, nothing happened.”
“I understand better than anyone that intent does not matter,” he said, shoulders sagging. “But I want you to know that it was not my intention to use you in any way. I just got caught up in the lie. It will not happen again.”
I didn’t want to hear his beautiful apology or my weak heart to break at the despair in his tone. I wanted to put Rían and this world—this life—behind me.
“Go take care of my sister.”
“Lady Aveen!” Lady Samantha swept toward me, red skirts swaying and arms open wide. Why was she coming over? She and I never spoke. “Congratulations! I hadn’t heard you and Robert were courting, and now you’re engaged?”
“It was a last-minute arrangement,” I said, somehow managing not to choke on the perfumed cloud that accompanied her.
The space where Lady Marissa had been standing only a moment ago was empty.
Lady Samantha moved on from my betrothal to her own husbandly woes, barely pausing long enough to breathe. When she started whispering about her husband’s penchant for bawdy houses, I took it as my cue to leave.
“Excuse me for a moment,” I said, patting her gloved hand. “I’m feeling unwell and could do with some fresh air.”
A symphony of starlight greeted me the moment I stepped outside. I touched buds as I passed, committing to memory their softness against my fingertips. Nippy spring air kissed my cheeks, enveloping me in its lilac-scented caress. My footsteps slowed as I approached the final hedge and rounded the corner to find a cloaked figure sitting on a bench. “I thought perhaps you’d changed your mind,” Tadhg said.
Sinking onto the cold, damp bench, I tucked my trembling hands beneath my thighs. “I’m not changing my mind.” His white teeth flashed when he smiled, making my stomach flutter. Even in the dark, he was beautiful.
“You seem troubled. Are you having second thoughts?” Tadhg’s low, soothing voice felt like sun-kissed honey slipping down my throat. “Not that I blame you. Rían doesn’t deserve someone willing to sacrifice herself for a—” He winced and hissed in a breath.
“A what?”
Biting his lip, he shook his head. “Nothing. He just doesn’t deserve you.”
I didn’t want to talk about Rían.
I licked my dry lips, my gaze dropping to Tadhg’s mouth. His breath was sweet, almost decadent as it mixed with mine, smelling faintly of glazed almonds.
“Are you going to kiss me?” I asked.
“I prefer a woman to make the choice. It makes it easier to believe you’re sacrificing yourself rather than that I’m about to steal your last breath.”
I glanced toward the house, rising like a skeleton in the distance, and said one final silent goodbye to the only person in this world I would be willing to die for.
“He’s not coming.”
I twisted back around to find Tadgh staring. “Who’s not coming?”
“My brother.” A golden curl fell across his brow when his head tilted. “He said that if he had to watch me put my ‘vile mouth’ on yours, he’d ‘lose his feckin’ mind.’”
“Why does he care?”
Tadhg’s brows knitted, and I realized my foolish error. Rían and I were pretending to be engaged. Of course he would care if I kissed his brother. “I mean, I don’t know why he cares since this was his plan. It is the only way we can be together, after all.”
Tadhg gave my knee a gentle pat. “He cares more for you than I have seen him care for anyone in a long, long time.”