Page 42 of Devotion

“Caleb, what’s wrong?”

“Would you like an itemized list?”

My eyes widened. Where the hell was this attitude coming from?

Feeling my anger swell, I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked my hip. “Sure. Let's start at the top, shall we? I’ll go first. You’re being an asshole.”

“That’s not news. And why wouldn’t I be? My wife is fucking three other men, carrying another man’s baby, and can’t seem to remember who claimed her first. I put that ring on your finger before any of them did. Being back at Ravenscroft opened my eyes to the truth. According to God, you’re an adulteress, Sunday. How can you expect me to live with that for eternity?”

His accusation hit me with the force of a physical blow, and I staggered. Anything I’d been about to say was lost in the wave of absolute pain and betrayal. I gaped at him, tears stinging my eyes.

“You don’t mean that,” I finally managed.

“Don’t I? It’s true.”

“But . . . you said . . .”

“I said a lot of things, but so did you. And of the two of us, you’re the one who didn’t keep her vows.”

What. The. Fuck.

“I told you I wasn’t going to let them go for you. We discussed this. You said you could handle it, Caleb, I...”

“Well, I must’ve lied, then. I’d have said anything to get you to be mine. But I can’t take it anymore, Sunday. I can’t watch you fuck them, hear you tell them you love them. You’re supposed to be all mine. My wife. My mate. It makes me sick to even look at you.”

I just stared at him. It felt like the ground was no longer steady. That a universal truth had just been proven a lie.

“Caleb,” I whispered, heartbroken.

He just held my stare. “You asked what was wrong, and I told you. Don’t try to play victim now. You brought this on yourself.”

My poor heart couldn’t take it anymore. But I wasn’t about to be a doormat, not even for him. “Fine. I’m sorry you feel that way, but thanks for finally telling me. I’ll be out of your hair in the morning.”

“Perfect. Then I guess there’s only one final matter for us to resolve.”

If you’d given me one hundred guesses, I still never would have landed on the words that came out of his mouth next.

“I’ll be taking my ring back.”

“W-what?”

“My ring, Sunday. It clearly means fuck all to you, so I’ll be having it back.” He held out his hand, palm up, waiting for me to do as I was told.

I looked down at the simple bit of yarn and then back up at this man I barely recognized. His midnight-blue eyes held such hatred and disgust my stomach rolled. Was he possessed? Had the Shadow Court done something to him?

“Now, Sunday,” he barked.

I jumped, hands shaking as I slid the bit of string off my finger. I could no longer keep the tears at bay, and they spilled hot and fast down my cheeks.

“Caleb,” I tried again, my voice breaking.

When I still hadn’t dropped the ring in his hand, he reached out and snatched it from me, throwing it straight into the crackling fire.

I watched it curl up and turn to ashes with a sort of numb disbelief coursing through me. How had this happened? We’d been so happy, so in love. How had I lost him in a matter of weeks?

I walked away from him and into the bedroom, where I curled up into a ball and cried until my eyes ached. If not for the snowstorm and it being the middle of the night, I would have hightailed it back to the house and the men who loved me. Being stuck here with the one who’d just flayed me open like a goddamned assassin was torture. Every creak of the wood or heavy exhale had the horrible things he’d said flooding my mind.

My husband—ex-husband?—walked into the room, not even looking at me as he pulled off his shirt and shucked his pants. Turning around, he stood in the glow of the moonlight, watching me with undisguised disdain. I couldn’t help myself; I drank in the sight of him, pain and longing mixing into a deadly cocktail. But as my eyes pored over him, I realized something wasn’t quite right. In fact, something was missing.

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