Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Then his jaw tightened, and he stepped back.
Oh. My breath lodged in my throat. What was happening? I’d spent a week fighting to get this man back. And now that I had, he was looking at me as if I was the living evidence of everything he regretted.
Guilt flashed in his stormy eyes. More than any one person could carry. Even him. And it was eating him alive.
I lifted my hand to cup his cheek. But he backed away as though he didn’t believe he deserved my touch. My heart constricted. How could I help him? Reach him?
“Bastian,” I whispered.
He turned on his heel, presenting me with his back. That more than anything told me how badly he was hurting. Sebastian Mórisi did not turn away from me. “I will let you rest,” he said. “Good night, Brona.”
He stalked off.
I squeezed my eyes shut. My heart knew the man who had fought beside me. The man who had tried to sacrifice himself rather than hurt me. The man whose rune now matched mine.
The worst part? This felt like a bigger battle than the one we’d just won.
I woke in bed, alone. The door between our suites was open, but there was no sign of him nearby.
All I could see? Treasure chests. Dozens of them. Lining the walls, stacked on the furniture, spilling over. Gold coins, mounded and gleaming. More gold than I’d ever seen in my life.
My dragon practically purred. She was so easy.
A note sat on my nightstand. The paper carried his scent.
An apology will never be good enough.
Love,
Bastian
The ink writing the word love bled slightly, as though his pen had lingered.
Sighing, I clutched the paper to my chest and stared up at the ceiling, where clear water churned. Sebastian thought he had something to atone for. That if he laid gold at my feet, if he suffered long enough, hard enough, I might decide he’d earned his way back to me.
But I didn’t need him punished. I just simply needed him.
Only… how did I make Sebastian understand that?
Olyssa might know. My eldest sister had turned every member of her husband’s family to ash, yet they’d still gotten their happily ever after. She’d know exactly how I should proceed. And since my bargain with Sebastian had been fulfilled, I could discuss it now.
I rose from bed, dressed, and plunged my hands into the chests. Though I wanted to pocket handfuls of gold coins, I did not. He hoped to buy my forgiveness, and I refused to accept a gift for something I’d already freely given.
Oh, who was I kidding? I pocketed one coin. Just one.
Two coins.
Five.
Through the ring on my finger, I signaled my sister.
Olyssa, I need you.
The reply came within seconds.
Head to the traveling stones.
No one stopped me as I requested a car. The driver did not question my choice of destination. As we soared along the roads, morning light filtered through the dome in rippling blue ribbons.
We reached the warehouse where one of Sebastian’s traveling stones was guarded. Soldiers didn’t stop me as I walked the base. By the time I stood before the massive stone arch, I all but frothed at the mouth, eager to hear whatever queenly wisdom my eldest sister imparted.
But it was Adelaide who stepped through, still typing on her phone.
I blinked.
“There’s the happy bride,” she called, finally glancing up. Sable hair, emerald eyes, the same infuriating calm she’d had since we were hatchlings.
“I called for Olyssa.” Not the woman whose longest relationship was with her phone.
My sister spread her arms wide. “Congrats! You got an upgrade.”
“Where is she?” I asked.
She fluttered her fingers. “Busy doing queen stuff. There was mention of a territorial dispute, someone threatening someone else. Blah, blah, blah. I stopped listening.”
“Adelaide.”
“Bronwyn.”
“I need actual help.”
Her expression changed. Only slightly. Adelaide could go from smart-mouthed spying menace to deadly serious with less warning than anyone I knew. “I know.” She gave me a huge hug. “That’s why I’m here. Tell me everything,” she invited as we got settled in the car.
The coins in my pocket rattled and spilled onto the seat.
Her eyebrows rose, and she plucked a coin from the leather. “Did you rob a bank?”
I snatched it from her. Mine. “Sebastian apologized. And there’s more where those came from. Chests full.”
“Well, the man gives good apology. Does he have something to apologize for?” she asked, gathering another coin.
“Nein, but he’s wallowing in guilt.” Where to start? From the beginning, I guess. “He brought me here so I would give his heart away, then he morphed into an emotionless stone and basically cut me out of his life, one decision at a time. My passage back home was arranged. My future was decided without my input.”
“And he refuses to admit the error in his ways? Ditch him.”
“Nein. The problem is, I don’t want him feeling guilty. I understand why he did what he did, and I’ve forgiven him. How do I make him understand that?”