Chapter 25 The love I can’t let go
IRIS
I’m standing in the kitchen, wrist-deep in suds, rinsing off the dishes from lunch when I hear the front door creak open. A few seconds later, Daisy walks in, dropping her bag with a groan that says more than words ever could.
I glance over my shoulder, smirking. “Rough day, soldier?”
She sighs like she’s been carrying the world. “You have no idea.”
I wipe my hands on a towel and lean against the counter. “Oh, come on. What happened? Burn your tongue on coffee again? Trip in front of your class crush?”
She lifts her head, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion and mild trauma. “Guess who showed up to my painting class today?”
I arch a brow. “Uh… Leonardo da Vinci?”
“I’m serious.”
“Okay, fine. I don’t know. Who?"
“Zeus McAllister.”
I blink. “Wait. What?”
She nods, walking over to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water like she’s trying to wash the memory away. “Yeah. Just walked in like he didn’t not sign up for the class three months ago.”
“But… we’re halfway through the semester.”
“I know.”
“And Zeus isn’t exactly Adrian. He doesn’t need extra classes. He’s not-”
“Struggling with grades? No. Exactly.”
I frown, watching her closely now. “So… what? He just showed up for fun?”
She shrugs, but it’s tense. “Who knows. But he sat next to me. Next to me, Iris.”
I can’t help the small laugh that slips out. “Well, you’ve had a crush on him since like forever. Maybe this is fate’s way of throwing you a bone.”
She rolls her eyes, sipping the water like it personally offended her. “Yeah, well, fate should’ve sent me a warning too, because I swear something feels off about him.”
I tilt my head. “Off how?”
“I don’t know.” She walks to the island and slumps onto the stool, resting her head on her arms. “He’s cold. Dismissive. And then he just walked out at the end like I didn’t exist. Didn’t even want to talk about the project we got assigned.”
“What project?”
“We have to pair up for a painting. The instructor’s planning a fundraiser auction.”
“And you got paired with him?”
“Yep. Because he sat next to me.” She groans. “I should’ve moved.”
I wince. “Well… shoot.”
She lifts her head, frowning at me. “That’s all you’ve got?”
I raise both hands. “What else am I supposed to say? ‘Congrats on your accidental slow-burn enemies-to-lovers arc’?”
“Iris.”
“Okay, okay,” I say, trying not to laugh again. “I get it. But still… maybe it won’t be that bad.”
She stares at me. “You’re literally bonded to the emotionally unavailable alpha prince who won’t even look at you, and I’m supposed to take romantic advice from you?”
I snort. “Wow. Okay. Rude but valid.”
She leans back on the stool and closes her eyes. “Can we just both agree that the McAllister boys are the definition of chaos and we should’ve run the other way the moment we met them?”
I nod solemnly. “A hundred percent.”
But as the laughter fades, I feel a familiar ache bloom quietly in my chest.
The truth is… even if I could run from Darian, I’m not sure I’d know how to.
“So how are you holding up with the Darian situation?”
I sigh.
Daisy pulls her legs up onto the chair, crossing them as she rests her chin in her palm. “It’s like watching you go through withdrawal,” she says softly. “Like you’re detoxing from someone who’s still living and breathing and choosing not to be here.”
I nod, eyes fixed on the half-empty glass of water in front of me. “That’s exactly what it feels like.”
There’s a pressure deep inside my chest, an ache that never goes away. It’s like something invisible keeps wrapping tighter and tighter around my lungs. I miss him with every breath I take, and I hate that I do. I hate how my body betrays me, how my heart races when I hear a voice remotely close to his, how I still wait for him when I know he’s not coming.
“I think about him all the time,” I whisper. “Even when I don’t want to. It’s like he’s embedded into my bloodstream or something.”
Daisy leans forward, her voice quiet but sure. “It’s the bond. The mark he left on you, it’s not just physical, Iris. He didn’t just bite you. He claimed a piece of your soul.”
“And then abandoned it,” I mutter, the words tasting like iron on my tongue.
“Yeah,” she breathes. “He did.”
I don’t even realize tears have started to build until Daisy gently reaches out with a napkin. I don’t take it. I just blink them back and rub my fingers against my temple.
“My dreams are the worst,” I admit. “It’s like I feel him more when I sleep. He’s there. Not always speaking. Sometimes just standing. Watching. And I wake up with this sense of loss, like I misplaced something I didn’t know I had.”
“You didn’t misplace it,” Daisy says. “He took it.”
I chuckle bitterly. “And locked it somewhere I can’t reach.”
She sighs, running a hand through her hair. “What are you going to do, Iris? Are you going to wait around forever for someone who’s choosing duty over desire?”
I open my mouth. Then close it again.
Because I don’t know.
Every fiber in my being wants him. Every second I fight this pull, I feel like I’m defying something ancient, something the moon itself has written into our DNA. But I also know I can’t force someone to love me. I can’t beg someone to choose me when they’ve already chosen a crown and a girl with matching bloodlines.
“I want to be strong enough to walk away,” I say finally.
“But?”
“But my heart won’t let me yet.”
Daisy nods solemnly. “Then until it does, I’m here. Just promise me one thing.”
“What?”
She meets my gaze. “Don’t lose yourself in him. He might be a part of your soul, but he isn’t all of it.”
I press my lips together and nod slowly.
I don’t say anything else.
But deep down, I’m scared I already have.