Chapter 132 A lie
DAINE
The moment Finn walked through the door, I saw it. They had fucked.
It should not have mattered. This was something we had already agreed on; our relationship was not exclusive to the vampire. But it did not make this turn of events burn any less.
Not even the sight of our wedding band on Hale’s finger again was enough to put out the flames of my jealousy.
“You look well.” Hale gave me an appraising look as he stopped beside me. That naturally flirtatious look he had that sexualized you, and planted all sorts of nasty ideas in your head.
I turned my gaze to the window, “You look well worked.”
“A bee stung your balls, my love?”
I was supposed to smile, joke back and tell him all the things I would like to do with his own balls. But I couldn’t. My throat was burning with a multi-faceted jealously. A hydra with many heads.
“Look over here for a minute, mon amour.”
He sighed, but then he turned to look out the window.
“The female with the earmuffs.”
“Woman,” Hale corrected. “We are not animals, at least not entirely animals, and you cannot resort to calling women you do not like females.”
I missed him. His voice and all the mini-lectures he could never resist giving me. But I pushed my hands deeper in my pockets, resisting the urge to take his hand in mine, or run my fingers through that silver hair.
I was not unaware that this attitude of mine was foolish. That right now, I should cherish every second with him because it may not be long before we become enemies. Before he discovered the truth, I had been hiding for days that the woman we wed under that tree, who was his one true mate, belonged to me too. She was my twin flame, the other side to my coin.
“That’s Rosamund’s girl,” he said now, oblivious, leaning closer to the window with a squint. The man's face was like a Greek piece. “Why is she out here? It’s been barely a week since Octavia passed.”
“I have a mind to send her to her mother.”
“What?” His head snapped sideways, but I avoided eye contact. “That’s a terrible joke.”
“Do you see me laughing, Mon amour?” I tapped my foot, staring at the reflection of my shoe before lifting my gaze again. “That woman has been a hornet in my wife’s hair this past week. She attacked her at Meridian House, and just before you got here, embarrassed her in the lobby.”
I finally turned to him, taking in the shock in those deep blue eyes. “You cannot take her life just for that.”
“What do you suggest then?” I prodded quietly. “I asked the doll's opinion, but you came in before she could give me a response.”
My eyes strayed to the woman in the courtyard again, tall, with a haughty smirk on her face as she watched the guests surrounding the tree.
“Not every offense requires a punishment,” Hale said now. “I will speak with her.”
“These are not teenagers, Hale. They are women.”
“Then you should leave them to handle their affairs. Celeste is a troubled woman, but she would never cause Lys bodily harm. And Lys is a grown woman, she will defend herself if she had to.”
He paused now, taking a breath. “And since when did we start getting involved in mortal affairs?”
“That’s my wife.” My voice remained calm, even though my temple was starting to beat. “Mine to protect.”
There was a hint of irritation in his voice when he said, “And Celeste is a part of my pack.”
We held each other's gaze, the energy shifting between us, and then simultaneously, we glanced in the direction of the two love birds by the fireplace.
“She is your wife.” I returned my attention to him, my teeth tight. “Should your Luna not take priority over anyone else in your pack?”
“What has come over you?” his head jerked back, brows furrowed in conclusion. “You are questioning her importance to me?”
It was difficult to find the next words, to coin words out of my fear till they coherently expressed that I did not trust him to choose Lys in the end. That if there was no other option, and she had to either die as our Ascendant or watch the Firstborns visit their vengeance on our city, he would not choose Lys.
“I only wonder. I only wonder how far you will protect her.”
His eyes flashed. He opened his mouth to respond and then shut it again. Then his brows furrowed. “Hold on,” He moved closer. “Something’s changed. You never had this much interest in her.”
“What do you mean?” it was my turn to look offended. “I have never let any other Ascendant into our home, but not only did I let her in, I wed her.”
“Because I pushed. You never even wanted her as an Ascendant in the beginning.”
“I am in love with Lys,” I whispered. Because it was easier than the truth. It was less complicated than all the other truths I could not tell him yet.
He stood frozen, his eyes wide like he had just seen a ghost, or I just stuck a knife in his back, or both. “What?”
I shrugged.
“What do you mean? What about Nymphaea?” He sounded more like a concerned friend then, not a rival for her heart, not like my husband, who should be as jealous over me as I was over him. “You cannot fall in love with another woman.”
He was looking over my shoulder now, and I followed his gaze to where the curly-head beauty sat with my porcelain doll. There were over a dozen gift boxes surrounding them at this point. Just how many souvenirs did he buy?
“I did not plan to.” I swallowed, returning my gaze to the honorable knight in front of me. “It just happened.”
“That sort of thing doesn’t just happen.” Hale groaned, wincing. “The…”
“But it happened to you. Twice,” I shot out and he took a step back.
“Will you ever stop holding that over me?” he looked so hurt I wanted to kick myself. This was going terribly. I was hurting him when I only wanted to do the exact opposite of that.
“I am not.” I said with extra calm. “I just want to understand why you find it difficult to believe I would fall in love with the same woman you fell for.”
“You could barely stand her one week ago, Daine.” He straightened up now, composed again. “You would not stop whining about how weak she was, how much she cried, and just before I left...”
He stopped, eye narrowing into suspicious slits. “Something happened when I was away.”
“No.”
“Look in my eyes when you lie to me.” His voice rose above the whisper we had maintained the whole time. “There’s something you are not…”
We turned at the same time to find her watching her. Those round doll eyes, soft now, confused. Hale winked, and she flushed.
She gave me one of those shy glances from beneath her lashes as she turned away, and my heart kicked.
I turned away with a new determination. I could not afford to mess this up and alert Aionis too quickly. Hale was painfully perceptive, and if I continued acting the way I was now, he would go digging.
The moment he found the truth, Aionis would get wind of it. For all our good, I had to keep up this lie. For now.