Page 25 of War of Her Heart

Nathara had too much to drink and was a giggling mess, falling over into Calum’s lap. Calum took her to her chambers, and of course, my father followed them out.

“Well, since the lovebirds are gone, there is no reason for the two of you to still be in my presence.” Sebastian glared at Lilian and Celine and while Celine cowered, Lilian held his glare.

“Celine, why don’t I show you where I plan to have the ceremony?” Without breaking eye contact with Sebastian, Lilian left the dining room with Celine following closely behind her.

There was a deep-rooted hatred between Sebastian and Lilian.

“Bronwen, let’s stop with this charade of the meals. I may go mad if I have to have one more meal with Lilian and Nathara,” Sebastian said.

Bronwen let out an overexaggerated huff. “Fine, but don’t you dare try to cancel any of the parties I have planned,” she replied.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare,” Sebastian said as he cut his eyes at her and started discussing a “border issue,” as he called it, with Adar, even though Adar never said anything back. Bronwen poured herself another glass of wine. I wanted to leave but I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation, and I felt like I may have missed my chance.

A tingling sensation in the palm of my hand caused me to look down to see a balled-up piece of paper appear under my hand. I carefully opened the paper, trying to not make a sound, to see what it said.

Excuse yourself.

-C

That was enough to make me forget all of my manners, and I jumped up and said, “I’m not feeling well, if you’ll excuse me.”

I didn’t wait for permission as I turned around and made my way to the doors.

“Violet.” My name from Sebastian’s lips made me stop, but I couldn’t turn around. “Can I have a word with you, alone?” he asked. I could feel his eyes boring holes in the back of my head as I kept my attention on the door—to the escape in front of me.

“No,” was all I said before I left the dining room. I couldn’t think too much about telling the Sovereign of the Night Realm no, but I also wasn’t willing to hear what he had to say. I didn’t know if he was going to attempt to apologize for earlier, when he almost killed me, or question me more about what I knew. Either way I didn’t want to ever be put in a position where I was alone with him again.

No matter the way he acted when I first met him, or the way he made me feel, I was afraid of him now. And it was best if it stayed that way. Even if no one can know for now, I waswith Calum. Calum was the love of my life, and nothing could ever change that. I knew when I opened the door to my room, Calum would be there, and I knew what to expect with him. He has been the same Calum for the entire time I’ve known him, and Sebastian . . . well, I’d met two different Sebastiansin the past two days. One entrancing and one terrifying. Either way I couldn’t give him any more of my time.

I quickly shut my door after me because Calum was standing in front of my bed waiting for me, and I didn’t want anyone to see from the hall. As soon as the lock on my door clicked, he closed the distance between us and kissed me.

“I love you,” he said while resting his forehead on mine.

“I love you, Calum.”

“I’m sorry for breakfast and dinner today,” he whispered as he gently placed kisses all over my face.

“I know. But you’re protecting me,” I said. I’m not sure if it was more to reassure him or myself.

“I will always protect you.”

I gave him a knowing smile, but I didn’t want to talk about the things we couldn’t change when I knew we didn’t have a lot of time to be together. “What do you think of my dress?” I asked as I spun around to give him a full view of the dress.

“It’s very . . . Night Realm,” he said as his eyes looked down at the dress.

I crossed my arms as I responded to him. “Itisa Night Realm dress.”

Calum brought his hand back to my face and cupped my cheek. “You look beautiful in it. You look beautiful in anything you wear, but it’s not you. It’s not my Violet.”

“It is different, but it’s not like I’ve ever been given a choice in what I could wear.”

He looked dissatisfied by my response but quickly shook the look off of his face and asked, “Well besides buying dresses, what else did you do in the city?”

“We went to a cafe, but we mostly just walked around looking at the buildings. Calum, it was so beautiful, and there were so many different faeries and creatures. I can’t believe everything I’ve missed out on.”

“Your father has just worried so much about your heart.”

“Well today proved that I can leave the castle. I mean, I spent the entire day in an unfamiliar place with faeries and creatures I have never seen before. I don’t think anything back home could surprise me now.”

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