Chapter 64
Cassian’s POV
Trista turned to face me.
She looked straight into my eyes, speaking slowly and clearly, with cold precision. “Remember that day we got back to the Ironthorn manor after our honeymoon?
My throat went tight. “I remember.”
We had just sealed the deal under the Moon Goddess. The whole territory was celebrating the new Luna. I thought it was the start of everything.
She gave a chilling, empty laugh.
“I overheard your conversation with your father in the study,” she said. “You said bailing out the bankrupt Silverlight Pack was a move that would net you both prestige and profit.”
I stepped closer, grabbing her shoulders. “Trista, stop talking.”
She ignored me.
“You also said,” she looked at me, her voice soft but the words felt like bone splinters, “that mating with me was strictly a calculated choice.”
At that, tears finally escaped, falling silently, each drop hitting my heart like a painful hammer blow. –
I instinctively pulled her into a fierce embrace.
My heart felt violently crushed. The mating bond twisted hard in my chest, stealing my breath.
Trista didn’t fight back.
She just rested in my arms, her shoulder giving one small tremor before she quickly straightened her spine.
“I shut down completely after that,” she mumbled against my shirt. “I stopped throwing fits, stopped being ‘willful.‘ I wasn’t allowed to be.”
“I spent years trying to please you,” she went on. “Walking on eggshells around everyone in Ironthorn. I was terrified you’d get tired of me, that you’d dump me someday.”
My fingers dug into her back. I could feel the rigid tension in her muscles, inch by inch.
“Cassian,” she called my name again, muffled against me “I haven’t been that proud, loud ‘Princess‘ of Silverlight for a long time. Didn’t you even notice?”
The hospital garden was almost deserted.
The healing tower blocked most of the wind, leaving a gentle, soft light.
I held her by the narrow stream. She wore a simple white dress, her ID badge hanging. Her hair was messy.
Le the reflection of the glass wall opposite, I saw my tailored suit pressed against her small figure.
Occasionally, passing nurses glanced our way.
15:30 Fri, Dec 26
Chapter 64
To an outsider, we were a perfect couple, utterly uncracked.
Only up close could they see the deep pain etched on my face and the fresh tear tracks on hers.
Just like our mating.
She finally pushed out of my arms.
I didn’t resist.
She roughly wiped the tears from her face, rubbing away the wetness, as if hoping to erase all the vulnerability with it.
“Three years of a loveless
o wore me down to this.”
She looked at me, her tone flat and final. “I don’t blame you, and I don’t hate you. It was my choice.”
I stood before her, speechless.
I could only stare at her impossibly pale face.
I’d seen her fierce, her arrogant, her sweet, her heartbroken–even her savage side when she fought.
But this cool, empty calm was terrifying.
“Cassian.”
63%
Finished
Her voice was quiet but lethal. “The woman you truly love is back, and you have a son with her. You have your happiness.”
“I’ve also figured out how to pay you back,” she continued. “Can we just end this with some dignity, please?”
We stared at each other.
I fought to maintain control.
Veins bulged on the back of my hands, which clenched uselessly at my sides. My wolf raged against my ribs, refusing to accept defeat.
“Trista,” I finally broke the silence. “Yes, I’ve been taking care of Samantha and her son.”
grim
I forced the next words out with emphasis. “But I have maintained boundaries. There was no intimacy, and I never marked her.”
She shook her head, tears rolling again.
“But you have a son together,” she
said. “That’s a fact that won’t ever disappear.”
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