novelraw Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gregor looked down at their joined hands, then back up at her. “I love you, you know.” Her eyes widened. His heart raced as he told her what he’d realized as he sat in that seedy tavern waiting to rescue her. “Choose me over your secrets, Nadia. We’ll find your nephew together.”
She pressed her lips together, her gaze stricken. “I can’t allow you to have anything to do with this, Gregor. I’m sorry.”
He clenched his jaw against the knife of pain splintering his heart, resisting the urge to shake sense into her. Why wouldn’t she let him in? His doubts rose up, threatening to choke him. She hadn’t said she loved him, too. Was he seeing something that wasn’t there? Trust her.
He stood, unable to stand her non-answers another minute. Damn her and her secrets.
His doubt grew, circling around inside his mind, until the small voice insisting she was essential to his future happiness fell silent. He stood and bowed stiffly. A single tear trailed down her cheek, but he steeled himself against it.
Turning, he left her sitting with his lonely declaration and her secrets. He moved down the hall, growing numb with each step until his heart felt encased in ice, his mind as still as a frozen pond.
Arriana stepped into the hall ahead of him. Her eyes widened, then narrowed.
Instead of stepping out of his way as he drew closer, she held her ground. “Don’t let her push you away.”
His heart throbbed, fighting to push the numbness aside, but he ignored it. “Good day, m’lady.”
He stepped aside to go around her. She moved with him.
“My sister is a stubborn fool of a woman. She thinks she’s protecting you by pushing you away.” The tiny woman implored him with her big green eyes. “She’s wrong. Don’t let her do this.”
The numbness thinned until the pain bruised his chest. “Protecting me from what?”
Arriana looked away. “It’s not my place to say. I’m sorry.” He clenched his jaw and made to step around her again. She grabbed his arm. “Please, Gregor. She’s trying to protect you. It’s what she does and how I know she really cares for you.”
He stopped, spine rigid, the last of the numbness around his heart melting until the pain radiated out from his chest. “She doesn’t trust me to take care of myself, Arriana.” He pinned Arri with a hard look. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t walk out of here and never give her another thought.”
Arriana gave him a sad smile. “Because you love her. You’re meant to be her heartbonded.”
Gregor clenched his jaw. “Yes, which makes the fact that she doesn’t love me back all the more difficult to bear.”
He’d loved Nadia since the moment she’d decided to kiss him back on the catwalk of Prime Guild’s seedy tavern. He’d been sure she returned his feelings, but undoubtedly he’d been wrong. What about the dreams? Gregor ignored the thought. The dreams were figments of an overactive imagination, nothing else.
He frowned down at Nadia’s sister. “Whatever this heartbond is, it doesn’t change the fact that she doesn’t respect me enough to let me decide for myself and maybe even help her with whatever secret she’s protecting me from.”
Arriana opened her mouth to reply.
“Don’t take it personal, m’lord,” interrupted a derisive male voice. “The Lady Nadia trusts very few with all of her secrets,” Pell said, a smirk on his face when they turned to face him.
Gregor studied the shorter man. His inquiries had been unable to confirm that Pell was the Shark, but his continued presence around Nadia left him little doubt.
Gregor bared his teeth in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m sure she has her reasons—, Mr. Pell, isn’t it?”
Pell scowled. “Pell de Argustanos, Lieutenant in Diomere’s royal army and humble companion to Lady de Quinones until such time as she finds the means to reverse her banishment.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “The lady is daughter to one of the highest ranked nobles in Diomere, sister to the queen, and holds the rank of Capitán in Diomere’s royal navy. When she finds her nephew, she’ll return to her home and position, at which time she’ll be expected to form a high ranking match to help strengthen her family’s position in society. A foreigner wouldn’t be accepted unless he was royal. I wouldn’t take it personally. None of us do.”
Arriana snorted under her breath, and Pell shot her a withering look.
“Being seen as inferior is always personal. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar or a fool.” Gregor gave the other man a curt nod, and then bowed to Arriana. “Lady Quinones, I won’t keep you from caring for your sister any longer. Please, if there’s anything else I can do for you, don’t hesitate to send word.” He met her searching gaze. “We still have much to discuss, you and I.”
Arriana nodded, a small smile on her face. He turned on his heel to leave, Pell’s glare burning into his back.