TRADING MY CHEATING HUSBAND FOR THE LYCAN KING novel Chapter 205

CHAPTER 143: GIRL TALK–1

EMBER’S POV

Had he been waiting for Knox to leave?

“It is,” I agree cautiously.

“The indigenous people believed the lights were spirits of the dead, dancing in the sky.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I like that idea. That the people we’ve lost aren’t really gone. That they’re still up there somewhere, putting on a show for those of us still stuck down here.”

I think about my baby. The one Gale never gave the chance to live. To exist. I wonder if they’re up there too, dancing across the lights.

I wonder if they know that I miss them even though we never met. I wonder who they would have been by

now.

“That’s a nice thought,” I say. “I don’t know if I believe it.”

“Neither do I.” Rafael’s smile is small, almost wry. “But it’s nice to pretend sometimes.”

We stand there in silence, watching the lights dance, and I try not to think about where Knox went.

What Rayana might be saying to him. Why the sight of them walking away together twisted something in my chest like a warning.

It’s not jealousy, I tell myself. It can’t be jealousy. I don’t have any right to be jealous.

But my eyes keep drifting to the cabin where they disappeared, and the lights above me seem suddenly less beautiful than they did a moment ago.

“She loves him, you know.” Rafael’s voice is quiet. Matter–of–fact. “Rayana. She never stopped loving him. Even after she left.”

“I know.”

“Does that bother you?”

I think about lying. Think about maintaining the pretense of casual indifference that’s been getting harder to sustain with every day that passes.

But the lights are beautiful and the night is cold and I’m so tired of pretending.

“Yes,” I admit. “It bothers me.”

Rafael turns to look at me then, and there’s something in his expression I can’t quite read. Satisfaction, maybe. Or is it sympathy? Or something more complicated that lives in the space between.

“You deserve more than just being a back–up plan.”

Before I can ask what that means, Queenie bounces over and loops her arm through mine, effectively

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ending the conversation.

“Ember! Come on, I want to try the hot springs but I am NOT going alone with just Nate standing guard like some kind of sexy security gargoyle. Please tell me you’ll come?”

I let her drag me away from Rafael, grateful for the interruption even as I wonder what the hell that was

supposed to mean.

The hot springs are exactly what I need–warm water, cold air, stars overhead and lights dancing between

them.

Queenie chatters about nothing and everything, and I let her voice wash over me without really listening.

My eyes keep drifting to the cabin. To the closed door. To the soft glow of light leaking through the

windows.

What are they talking about?

What is she telling him?

Why did he go with her so easily?

Why are they taking so long?

I sink lower in the water and try to drown the questions.

It doesn’t work.

Back in the girls‘ cabin, the fireplace crackles and the champagne flows and Rayana is still nowhere to be

found.

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