“Where do they live?” Keelynn pressed.
“In a cottage by the sea.”
“Take me there.”
This woman. Was she truly that ignorant to the way the world worked? I almost laughed. She’d agreed to let me into her life; Keelynn was as ignorant as they came. Still, going to that cottage wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference. “No. Now, tell me why you’re here or leave me alone.”
I couldn’t be around her without wanting to feel her skin on my fingertips. My need was slowly driving me insane. I didn’t want to feel anything for a woman who cared so little for me. I didn’t want to feel anything at all.
I took another eye-watering drink.
“You said something before you passed out last night, and I wanted clarification.”
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
“What did I say?” I asked, hoping she was referring to something other than the fact that I had confessed my love for her.
“You don’t remember?”
I remembered plenty. Thus, the binge drinking.
“You said that you wanted to stay married to me.”
Three of the other patrons in the bar must’ve found that fact interesting because they stopped their drinking and conversations to stare at us.
I flicked my wrist, creating a tost, a soundproof barrier between the two of us and the world. “Have you lost your damn mind? I don’t need everyone in the feckin’ pub knowing my business.” To associate herself with me so blatantly would ruin her. It was a good thing her sort didn’t frequent places like this. “I never said Iwantedto stay married. This isn’t a matter ofwantinganything.” Because if it was, there’d be no hope. I didn’t get what I wanted. “It’s a matter of accidentally discovering a loophole in my curse.”
When I’d first been cursed, I’d tried to get around Fiadh’s intricate spell by using the truth curse to my advantage. I’d promised Rían to never sleep with another woman.
That night, I’d fucked two.
Nothing worked.
Until Keelynn.
Her lovely, lovely lips pursed. My eyes reflexively checked to see if she still wore my ring. There it was, glinting on her left hand, hiding our black bond. “What loophole?” she asked.
“Have you listened to wedding vows?”
“Of course I have. I was married, remember?”
How could I forget? Married to someone else before me. I hated the man and I didn’t even know him.
Keelynn looked at me as if she were still confused. I thought I’d made perfect sense.
I took her hands, dragging her until I could see myself reflected in her steely eyes. “To you, I pledge my body and soul. All that I am and all that I have is yours.”
I’d said the words, promising this woman things I never thought I’d give to another.
“What are you doing?” she gasped, tugging on her hands.
I wasn’t ready to let her go. Not yet. Not even when Ruairi shoved from his chair, knocking it to the ground, and stalked forward. “I bind myself to you and you alone, forsaking all others.”
“Stop talking,” she whispered. “Let me go.”