Page 16 of War of Her Heart

“Violet, I didn’t know you would be here,” he said while trying to grab my hand.

I took a step away from him as I said, “Are you kidding me? Is that supposed to make me feel better? What were you going to do? Marry her and have someone get rid of me before the two of you returned from your honeymoon?”

“No, I didn’t mean—”

“Fuck you, Calum,” I screamed before I started wailing on him. Hit after hit. He let me hit him for a while because he knew he deserved it. Then the anger turned into sadness and all I could do was cry. He wrapped his arms around me, and I didn’t fight back. I was too tired. Tired from the days without him, tired from it all.

“Violet, please listen to me. It’s all fake. Everything you saw was just a show,” he said while resting his chin on my head.

I pushed away from him. “You expect me to believe that?”

“When I got here, I did just like I told you I would do. I was horrible. I wouldn’t even look at her. I was rude to everyone. I tried everything I could for her to refuse to marry me. Then, one day, I overheard her talking to her mother. Her mother told her that she found out why I was acting the way I was. They found out that there was someone in my realm.”

“How?” I asked.

“We must have a traitor in the castle. Someone has been feeding them information. Her mother then told her that once they figured out who it was that they would kill my lover. I couldn’t chance anything happening to you, so I started to act like I was interested in her. I was hoping that it would prevent them from digging deeper to find out who you were.”

“So, what, your plan was just to marry her to protect me?” I asked.

“No. Something is going on here. Her brother—the Sovereign—he’s weak. Something is affecting his power, and I am going to figure out what it is. I’m going to use it as leverage to get out of this. But no one can find out it’s you. I can’t risk something happening to you.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He’d never lied to me before, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he meant every word he said. He’s just trying to protect me. But I couldn’t get the image of her in his arms out of my head. Even though he was doing this to keep me safe, it still hurt. I didn’t think I could watch them together until he figured a way out. But his plan? Crazy. I was starting to lose hope.

“What are you going to do? Save that . . . evil man . . . from whatever is taking his power and hope that in return he tells you that you don’t have to marry his sister?”

“I-I don’t know yet,” he mumbled.

I started to walk away from him, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back to look at him.

“Violet, please,” he said as he looked at me with worry in his eyes.

“Have you kissed her?” I asked even though I didn’t know if I could handle the answer.

“Violet . . . I . . . Yes. I had to make her believe that I wanted to marry her.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Did you have sex with her?” I said barely loud enough for him to hear me as I turned away from him again. I was too scared of what the answer would be.

“What?”

I whipped around and before I could stop myself, I said, “Did you fuck her, Calum?” I could feel the rage building up again. If he had sex with her, I’d be done. I’d find a way to sneak out of the Night Realm tonight, and I would never see him again.

I caught him off guard with that. I could tell by the look on his face as he said, “No. I did not fuck her. I told her we had to wait until our wedding night. I wouldn’t do that to you. I love you, Violet.”

“I need some time to process this. Please leave,” I said, even though seeing him leave would hurt worse than him staying here to fight with me.

“Violet, please—”

“Leave, Calum.”

He stood there and just stared at me as if he was contemplating doing what I had asked of him. This had been the longest we’d been apart since the day I moved into the castle.

“No. I will not leave. We’ve been together for sixteen years, and I’ve never done anything to make you lose trust in me. I know what you saw hurt you, but it’s the only way I know to protect you. And now you’re here, which is going to make everything harder. How am I going to keep my eyes off of you when you enter a room? I can’t let anything happen to you.”

“Then why are you here, in my room? You’ve told me that the Sovereign of the Night Realm controls shadows and knows everything that goes on in his realm. Are you not risking everything by being in my room right now?” I asked.

“I told you that he’s weak. Well, weak compared to what he used to be. I was able to place a ward on every room that fae from my realm are staying in. No one can hear anything that goes on in our rooms. We are safe in your room.”

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