Page 131 of Bitter Prince
“You weren’t meant for me. Give your love to someone else.” This definitely had to be a nightmare. We were happy this morning. He loved methis morning. “Forget me, Reina. It was just a way for both of us to pass our time.”Reina.Not his cinnamon girl.
“Passing time?” I repeated dumbly, my mind making excuses and hoping for a different outcome.
“Forget me.”
I shook my head. “Just like that?” I rasped, aware I was humiliating myself. The woman stood there, watching the entire scene. She had a front-row seat to my first heartbreak. “You can’t forget this,” I said stubbornly. “Us.”
“I have forgotten you already. It’s best if you forget me too.”
I have forgotten you.Four simple words, and they burned my entire world to the ground. He was my first. He was supposed to be my last.
He was my entire book while I… I was just a page in his. Not even a page, a paragraph maybe. And my heart still lingered, hoping against all odds that somehow, someway, he’d turn it around and proclaim I was the title of his book, just like he was mine.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I had to keep myself together, because I knew if I broke, no amount of glue or tape would ever put me back together.
He stood there, so close yet so far away, and judging by his expression, no amount of pleading would ever bring him back to me. He was always my choice. I would have always chosen him. But apparently, I was never his. Just a way to pass his time.
“You can forget me, Amon. But you can’t tell me what to do. You can’t tell me…” The words lodged like a knife in my heart and my throat, stealing my breath away. I finally forced the words out. “You can’t tell me not to love you.”
“It’s wasted.” Fuck, his words hurt. The taste of copper flooded my mouth.
“My love was a freely given gift, I don’t want it back.” My voice cracked and my lip trembled. In fact, my entire body did. “So take this gift, bitter prince, and hold it tight. It’s my last one, and may… may it keep you sane on your journey. Goodbye, Amon.”
I left him silently while my heart shattered into a million pieces. Life without him seemed surreal, like a living nightmare that I couldn’t quite put off.
One foot in front of the other, I kept my tears at bay while my life went up in flames and left me with nothing but pain.
I’d have to keep moving to get through this life or I’d end up like my mamma.
52
AMON
Iwatched Reina leave, my chest twisting in agony.
It was the first time I’d seen her without a smile, and I’d caused it. It was all my fault. I started it and I fucking finished it.
I. Finished. Her.
I couldn’t tell her why. For both our sakes, it was better I kept it a secret. If she knew, it would destroy her. So I’d bear this knowledge alone. She’d recover from the broken heart. She wouldn’t if she learned we were half-siblings.
My stomach roiled as it did every time I thought of it, and I pushed it to a deep corner of my soul.
As I watched her leave silently, the cracking of my heart echoed louder than I’d ever heard it.
The need to run after her, scoop her up, and never let her go clawed at my chest. Except, it was wrong. She was my half sister. All these feelings twisted in me.
“Leave.” My voice was flat. Cold. All wrong.
“I thought we could—”
“Leave,” I roared. I didn’t want this woman. I didn’t care about her. I just used her to push Reina away. So I could protect her from the knowledge that she slept with her—
Bile rose in my throat and I stumbled to the bathroom, making it just in time to empty the contents of my stomach. I heard the door of my apartment shut just as I released a shuddering breath.
I flushed the toilet and rose to my feet, catching my expression in the mirror. I was still the same, yet so fucking different. My eyes lowered to my chest, expecting to see a hole there, because it felt like someone had ripped my heart out.
I hated this feeling. It was hell. Agony. The worst kind of damnation.
