Chapter Two Hundred and Five
“I did my part of the deal, Riley; you aren’t keeping to yours.” Nick said, furious now.
“You never told me the whole truth; you hid it aft from me. I would have never gone along with this if I knew the other side you kept hidden and you know that.”
“Don’t lie to me, Riley. I knew it; from the moment I came here to visit you in the dungeons, I could see it in your eyes. You were never going to keep to your part of the deal, you were never going to go along with the marriage, so don’t give me this bullshit,” he said, and to that I had no reply.
He was right.
“I’m sorry things had to end this way.“I said to him.
“No. No, you are not. I’ll be on my way now; maybe I might as well inform your mother that the wedding is off. I wonder what she would think about it.”
“Don’t bring my mother into this.”
“Oh, she’s so going to be involved, and don’t you think for a moment that this is goodbye,” he pointed at my stomach. “Either you take that thing out of you or you die. But well, you are good at taking risks.”
With that, he walked away. I had never seen this version of him, and even though I knew it would never work between us, I still felt… disappointed.
It only got worse; I knew it because Thane couldn’t even bear to look at me and watch me die away. I noticed how he would look at anything but me when he visited.
He sat on a chair now, his eyes fixed on the wall.
“You don’t have to stay with me, you know that, right?” I say to him, A part of me hoped he would look at me, but he didn’t. His gaze remained pinned to the wall.
“I want to be here.”
“Then be here! You think I don’t notice how you can’t even look me in the eyes. Had I become that repulsive to look at?” I questioned, and my voice shook. I was hurt.
Finally, his eyes turned to me. They were red, if I didn’t know better, I would think he was holding back tears. But Thane never cried–not once, not ever. It was simply impossible.
“You will never be too repulsive for me to look at. But I… can’t bear it; I can’t watch you die, and that’s what is happening to you.” he paused, and took in a shaky breath. “You are dying, Riley, and you need to get the demon out.”
1/2
Chapter Two Hundred and Five
“I know, but… I can’t.”
“Is not a child.”
“You don’t understand. Nobody does. I had lost a child once, back in the Windborne pack, I tried to stop thinking about it, but now… I can’t let go of this; whatever it is, I can’t kill it.”
He shook his head. “That had been a child; this… is.not.”
“I know, and yet I can’t bring myself to kill it.” I said, and Thane looked away from me once again. “Let’s talk about something else. please.” I say just to get his attention back.
“Talk about what?” he asked.
“Anything.”
“Did you end things off with Nick?” Thane asked.
“How did you know that?”
“The ring is no longer on your finger, so I made a guess.”
“I just… couldn’t.” I paused.“There is more to being a ‘turned one‘ than what he showed me. He says our lifespan is usually long; we live for centuries.” I said, and that finally got Thane’s attention.
“And I guess he didn’t tell you about that earlier?”
“No. He didn’t. I don’t want to live for centuries; Thane, I just want to live a normal life and be happy; that’s all I had ever wanted.”
