Caden bent down to peer beneath my bed. He dragged out the small trunk Rían had purchased a while back and then threw open the armoire. “Who is he to you? Another lover, perhaps?” A clean gray dress landed beside me, followed by a shift from my chest of drawers and a pair of thick wool stockings.
“That is none of your concern.” I balled up the dress and tossed it back at him. I could pick out my own bloody clothes.
He dropped the dress into the trunk, dragged a second from the hanger, and threw that at me instead. “Of course it’s my bloody concern! I love you, and—”
“Love?” I caught the fabric and launched it at his insufferable head. “Is that what this looks like to you?” How delusional was this man? Yes, I’d thought I loved him years ago. Before promises were broken. Before I experienced the joy and utter devastation of true love.
He threw that dress into the trunk and grabbed a third to shove into my arms. “Put this on.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Where did these men get off, ordering me around? Did I have the word “pushover” tattooed on my bloody forehead?
His eyes began to glow, and I swore I heard his jaw creaking from beneath his stubble. How had I ever mistaken this man for a human? “Seeing you covered in your own blood makes me want to rip that pooka’s head off. Now put on the blasted dress so that I don’t murder your friend. And when you’re finished, meet me in the living room. You and I have much to discuss.” He stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind him, making the picture on the wall fall right into the open trunk.
As far as I was concerned, this discussion was over. But since I wasn’t keen on Ruairi losing his head, I changed as quickly as I could with weak and wobbly limbs. Although the fresh scar at the base of my sternum had already turned silver, the skin around the wound still ached.
Caden waited on the sofa, one long arm draped over the back cushions and one booted foot thrown over his knee. “Sit.” He patted the cushion beside him.
My entire body turned stiff as a plank. “I am not a dog.”
His head fell back with his groan. “I am well aware of the toll it takes on one’s body to return from the Underworld. Your legs must be aching. Please sit down so you don’t fall over and crack your skull off the hearth and end up right back where you started.”
I crossed to the sofa to sit as far from him as possible—not because he told me to but because I didn’t want to leave Ruairi in whatever state he was currently in for longer than necessary.
Caden’s dark eyes swept from the square neckline on the brown muslin I’d picked out myself to my bare toes peeking from beneath the long skirts. “It seems we have both been keeping secrets.”
When we’d met, I’d had no secrets. Caden, on the other hand, had enough to fill the ocean.
“How are you alive?” he asked.
I would give him this answer only because I wanted him to understand that Ruairi posed no threat to me. “I am alive because I was resurrected with a true immortal’s life force.”
The color leached from his sun-kissed face. “You were truly dead?” When he reached for my hand resting on my lap, I flinched. Hurt flickered across his eyes before he dropped his hand and pressed back into the cushion. “Heavens above,” he murmured. “When I left, I truly believed you would be safer on this island than with me. I can see now that I was wrong, and I’m sorry. I should’ve brought you aboard my ship when you asked.”
I had only asked out of foolish desperation. At the time, all I could think about was being with Caden. In the end, his refusal had been a blessing. I would’ve never forgiven myself for leaving Keelynn behind, especially since it meant she would’ve ended up marrying Robert Trench to pay our father’s bad debts.
Caden stuffed his hands into the pockets of his dark trousers. “How did you get mixed up with the bastard prince?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Rían still loved Leesha. Part of him loved me as well, I knew that. But I deserved someone who could give me more than half a heart.
“How can you say that after all we shared?” Caden shook his head, his tone rife with disbelief. “Despite what you may think, I do love you.”
“You lied to me, about everything. Why should I believe you about this?”
Cursing, he dragged a hand down the back of his neck. “I didn’t lie about everything. I was born in Iodale, that part is true. Not in the capital, as I previously claimed, but in the fae lands. My stepfather was a merchant sailor. I inherited my ship from him. He and my mother used to sail together, but when she passed, he couldn’t bear the thought of being on the water without her.”
What a whimsical, romantic tale. One I may have actually believed if I didn’t know better.“And your real father?”
“He was a merrow. My mother never told me his name, probably because he seduced her while wearing a glamour and tricked her into his bed.”
“Sounds like it runs in the family.”
The muscles in his jaw pulsed. “I hid my ears, Aveen. And my magic. Not because I didn’t want to tell you but because this island is dangerous for Fae. I would have given you the truth before we married.”
Another romantic story. Truth or lie, it didn’t matter because when I looked at Caden Merriweather, all I saw was a handsome mistake.
I remembered the first time I’d caught sight of him outside the pub. The windswept hair, the sun-tanned skin, the mischievous smiles and glinting eyes, as if he’d had some deep, dark secret.
Turned out, he did.