“You manipulated me?” The accusation trembled on her lips, but even as she said it, the truth had already settled—cold, undeniable.
Castiel shrugged. “You were always going to run. I simply made sure to hold the door open.”
“So, all those words of love . . .” Her throat tightened, but she forced the question out. “They meant nothing?”
For a fleeting moment, a shadow passed across his eyes, but it vanished before she could grasp it.
“Let’s not pretend,” he said smoothly. “Not when you don’t love me either.”
The quiet finality of his words sliced through her.
It couldn’t be.
And yet—her heart stammered, a cold prickle of realization racing up her spine.
She shook her head, desperation clawing its way into her voice. “That’s not true. I?—”
“If you loved me,” he cut in, calm as ever, as though he had known this for years and had long accepted it. “You wouldn’t have waited. You would’ve chosen me the moment you presented as an Omega. But you didn’t. You stayed in your palace, bemoaning your duty—until fear finally drove you to me.”
A flicker of air snagged in her lungs. Fingers curled into her palms. “That’s not fair.”
Even as she said it, doubt seeped in like smoke, filling cracks she hadn’t realized were there.
Castiel’s lips curved, but the smile was empty, hollow. “Isn’t it? You came to me because I was safe. Because I wasn’t an Alpha.”
A slow, creeping chill spread through her limbs. “You think I used you?”
“I know you did. And I let you.”
The truth punched the air from her lungs as the room tilted.
His knuckle brushed against her bound wrist, his voice gentler now, but no less damning.
“It’s not your fault, dove. We both found what we needed. You found the illusion of freedom in me, and I found use in you. Now we can stop pretending we were ever more than that.”
Her pulse pounded, an immediate protest rising in her throat.No.She wanted to reject it outright, to tell him he was wrong—that what they had was real.
But the words wouldn’t come.
Her breath wavered, Castiel’s words swallowing her like a heavy shroud. Maybe, in some ways, he was right—maybe she’d clung to him for safety, for something familiar in a world that had shifted beneath her feet.
But that wasn’t all they’d been.
The memories surfaced unbidden, flickering through her mind. For a moment, they were children again, racing barefoot through the palace gardens, Castiel’s laughter trailing behind her like wind chimes caught in a breeze. She remembered the day they’d built a little raft together, Castiel insisting it would sail across the pond like a real ship. It sank within minutes, but he’d laughed so hard she’d joined in, their shared failure sweeter than any triumph.
She thought of the quiet moments too—his shoulder pressed against hers under the carob tree by the riverbank, the two of them hidden from the world, reading by the light of a single lantern. How they’d sworn, as children did, that they’d always be each other’s harbour, no matter how stormy life became.
And the more recent memories: the way his presence had steadied her during the first overwhelming weeks after her Awakening, when every Alpha’s gaze felt like a weight she couldn’t carry.
Those moments had been real. Theyhadto be.
“You’re wrong,” she whispered, gaze dropping to the crumpled linens beneath her hands. “Icareabout you.”
She looked up just as Castiel leaned in, heart clenching at his hardened expression.
“You care about the version of me you made up in your head. The Beta who wouldn’t ask too much of you. The easy escape.”
Her heart clenched. Was that it? Had she clung to him because he never demanded more—because he was a buffer from everything she feared?