Chapter 19 The Truth
Adrian stood slowly, placing himself between Celeste and Lila's bedside. His face had gone carefully blank, the mask he wore in council meetings sliding into place. But through the bond, Lila felt his terror.
"Celeste. How did you find us?"
"I followed you." Celeste moved into the cottage, her pregnant belly prominent beneath her cloak. "Three nights ago, I felt you leave our chambers. Last night, the same. Tonight, I had guards track you." Her eyes cut to Lila. "To here. To her. Always to her."
"She was dying." Adrian's voice stayed level. "I brought her to Miriam because the palace healers couldn't help."
"Dying." Celeste laughed without humor. "How convenient. How noble of you, rushing to save my poor sick sister in the middle of the night." She moved closer, studying Lila's wasted form. "She does look terrible. Like someone slowly killing herself." Her eyes lifted to Adrian. "Or being killed by something she can't escape."
Miriam appeared from the back room, her ancient face impassive. "Your Majesty. This is unexpected."
"I'm sure it is." Celeste's voice dripped ice. "How long has my husband been bringing his mistress to your cottage?"
"She's not my mistress." Adrian's control cracked slightly.
"Then what is she?" Celeste turned on him. "What is my sister to you that you'd break into her locked tower at midnight, carry her unconscious through the palace, bring her here to a healer who lives three miles outside the kingdom walls?" Her voice rose. "What is she that you'd risk everything to save her?"
Silence stretched. Adrian's jaw worked as he fought for words. Through the bond, Lila felt his desperation. He could lie, but lies wouldn't satisfy Celeste anymore. She'd pushed too far, seen too much.
"Tell her." Lila's voice came out weak but clear. "She deserves the truth."
"Lila, no." Adrian's voice held warning.
"She already knows something is wrong. Has known for months." Lila forced herself to meet Celeste's eyes. "Tell her, Adrian. Or I will."
Adrian's hands clenched into fists. He looked at Celeste, at Lila, at Miriam watching with knowing eyes. Finally, his shoulders sagged in defeat.
"She's my mate." The words fell like stones. "My true mate. The bond snapped into place during our wedding ceremony."
Celeste went absolutely still. Color drained from her face. Her hand went to her stomach in an unconscious protective gesture.
"Your mate." She repeated the words slowly. "My sister is your fated mate."
"Yes."
"Since our wedding day."
"Yes."
"You married me while your mate stood three feet away watching." Celeste's voice shook. "You said vows to me while the bond screamed for her. You brought me to our marriage bed knowing the Moon Goddess had chosen someone else for you."
"I had no choice." Adrian's voice was rough. "The alliance was already sealed. Five kingdoms watched that ceremony. Breaking the engagement would have caused war."
"So you married me anyway." Celeste laughed, the sound bordering on hysteria. "You married me and brought your mate into our home. Let her live in our palace. Kept her close while pretending she was just my sister. While I wondered why my husband could never love me."
"Celeste." Lila tried to sit up but was too weak. "We never acted on it. We followed every rule. Stayed apart. Never touched inappropriately."
"Never touched." Celeste's eyes blazed. "But you wanted to. Every day, every moment, you wanted something you couldn't have. And I felt it. I felt the distance between us, Adrian. Felt you holding yourself back. I thought it was just your nature. That you were cold and dutiful and incapable of warmth." Her voice cracked. "But you weren't cold. You just weren't mine."
"I tried." Adrian's mask crumbled. "I tried to be a good husband. To honor our vows. To focus on duty and responsibility."
"You tried." Celeste moved closer to him. "And I tried too. Tried to make you love me. Tried to be perfect. Tried to give you an heir that would bind us together." She pressed both hands to her stomach. "I'm carrying your child, Adrian. Your son or daughter growing inside me. And it still doesn't matter, does it? Because she's your mate."
"The baby matters." Adrian's voice carried desperate sincerity. "You matter. The kingdom matters."
"But she matters more." Celeste's eyes filled with tears. "I can see it in your face. The way you look at her even now, when she's half-dead and broken. You look at her like she's your whole world. Like losing her would destroy you." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "You've never looked at me that way."
"I'm sorry." The words sounded inadequate. "I'm so sorry for all of it."
"I knew." Celeste's tears spilled over. "Deep down, I always knew something was wrong. The way you both avoided each other so carefully. The way you fought the council to keep her in the palace. The way she faded after we confined her to the tower." She looked between them. "I told myself I was imagining things. That pregnancy made me paranoid. But I knew."
Lila felt tears on her own cheeks. "I never wanted to hurt you. I tried to leave. Tried to disappear so you could have a real marriage."
"And he wouldn't let you go." Celeste's laugh was bitter. "Because mates can't let go. The bond won't allow it." She turned to Miriam. "That's why she's dying, isn't it? The mate bond rejection."
"Yes." Miriam answered honestly. "Her body is giving up because she can't have what her soul needs."
"And if Adrian claims her? Completes the bond?"
"She'd heal instantly. But your marriage would be destroyed."
"My marriage is already destroyed." Celeste's voice went flat. "It was destroyed the moment the Moon Goddess chose my sister instead of me." She looked at Adrian. "Were you ever going to tell me?"
"I don't know." He admitted. "I thought keeping the secret was protecting you. Protecting everyone."
"You were protecting yourself." Celeste's words cut like knives. "From having to make a choice. From having to decide between duty and desire." She straightened, pulling together her shattered dignity. "Well, I'm making the choice for you."
Adrian tensed. "Celeste, wait."
"No. I'm done waiting. Done pretending. Done living in a marriage where my husband's heart belongs to someone else." She met his eyes. "Lila stays. She recovers here with Miriam. You can visit, care for her, do whatever you need to do to keep her alive."
"Celeste." Lila's voice broke. "You don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do." Celeste's smile held no warmth. "Because watching you die while Adrian falls apart is destroying us all anyway. At least this way, you live." She turned back to Adrian. "But after the baby is born, one of you leaves. Permanently. I won't raise my child in a palace where everyone knows the King loves someone else."
"That's fair." Adrian's voice was rough.
"I'm not done." Celeste's eyes hardened. "And Adrian? I'm taking a lover. Lord Garrett has been interested for months. If you can have your mate close, I deserve some happiness too."
The words landed like a slap. Adrian's face went white. Through the bond, Lila felt his shock, his guilt, his inability to protest something he knew he deserved.
"Garrett." Adrian's voice came out strangled. "You'd take Garrett to your bed while carrying my child?"
"Why not? You keep your mate three floors away while I warm your bed out of duty." Celeste's voice dripped acid. "At least Garrett wants me. At least he looks at me like I matter." She moved toward the door. "I'll tell the council Lila is recovering at the healer's cottage. That she has your permission to remain here until she's well. They won't question it."
"Celeste, please." Adrian reached for her. "Don't do this. Don't destroy what little we have left."
"What do we have left?" She pulled away from his touch. "A marriage built on duty and lies? A child conceived without love? A future where we pretend everything is fine while your mate lives nearby torturing you both?" She laughed. "There's nothing left to destroy, Adrian. It was broken from the beginning."
She swept out of the cottage, guards following. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving devastated silence.
Adrian sank into the chair beside Lila's bed, head in his hands. His shoulders shook with silent sobs. Through the bond, Lila felt his guilt, his grief, his overwhelming shame at what he'd done to both women.
"She's right." He said finally. "About all of it. I destroyed her by marrying her when I knew my mate was someone else. I destroyed you by keeping you close when distance would have been kinder. I destroyed everything I touched."
"We all made choices." Miriam's voice was gentle. "You chose duty. Lila chose sacrifice. Celeste chose to stay. None of you are villains. You're just people trapped by circumstance."
"That doesn't make it hurt less." Lila's voice was hollow. "Doesn't make what we're doing to her acceptable."
"No." Miriam agreed. "But it makes you human. And humans hurt each other sometimes, even when they're trying not to."
Adrian lifted his head, looked at Lila with red-rimmed eyes. "She's giving us permission. To be near each other. To stop hiding."
"She's giving us enough rope to hang ourselves." Lila corrected. "And taking her own happiness whe
re she can find it." She closed her eyes. "We don't deserve her mercy."
"No." Adrian's voice was broken. "We don't."