Chapter 25: Chapter 25

~ ROWAN

I was convinced that Nyssa had an ability to find the things that belonged to my mother.

There were people who’d lived in this palace for years and never found the gardens. They weren’t easy to navigate after all… my mother made sure of that.

She didn’t want people stumbling across it by accident and messing with her flowers. They were her pride and joy. The only reason I still kept it tended to was because of her.

Aria tore me a new asshole today.

She stormed into the dining room while I was halfway through my coffee and yelled at me for five minutes straight.

At first, I thought she was just upset about something else, but when she mentioned a bruise on Nyssa’s hands, my blood ran cold.

I knew I grabbed her hard, but I didn’t know it was hard enough to leave a bruise.

I left the dining room immediately and went in search of Nyssa, but I heard she hadn’t left her room all day.

I thought she just wanted to be alone so I let her be until fifteen minutes ago when one of the guards I put to watch over her told me that she was on the move.

She stood slowly, her spine going ramrod straight as she turned to me. “If I’m not meant to be here, I’ll just leave.”

“You can stay.”

She shook her head. “I think I would be best if I just left.”

I frowned at her words.

Her tone was more curt and formal now than it was the first time we met. It took me a moment to realize it but I did.

It was noticeable in the way she wouldn’t look me in the eye, and in the nervous shuffling of her feet. I could tell by the way she twiddled with her thumbs and the goosebumps that crawled all over her flesh… she was scared of me.

I nearly laughed in disbelief.

She was arguably the only person in the world who had no reason to be scared of me.

Even if I were to hate her with everything in me, I was physically unable to hurt her. The mating bond worked in a very funny way. It prevented me from actually being able to inflict harm on her.

As long as the bond remained unbroken, I couldn’t touch her with the intention to harm her. It was probably the only reason the bruise stayed… I never intended to cause it.

Her fear was unfounded, and the knowledge brought a feeling so unfamiliar and uncomfortable that my chest fucking ached.

“It’s a fucking garden,” I snapped, unable to stop myself. “It’s not like you’re going to burn it down.”

She pursed her lips tightly. “I could.”

“There are servants who would stop you before you even light the match,” I told her. “I heard about your hand. I didn’t realize it would leave a bruise-”

She scoffed. “That’s what happens when you grab people harshly. What did you expect would happen? Did you think a rainbow would pop out into the sky?”

I liked her annoyance more than I liked her fear.

I’d prefer she fucking hated me than she cowered when I came close. Her ire stroked something inside of me, and it meant that she was at least interacting with me.

“You were somewhere you weren’t supposed to be. I thought you were a maid-”

“And that gives you the right to put your hands on me?” she asked in shock. “So if I were a stranger you would have hurt me more?”

The conversation was going downhill very quickly.

On a good day, I would have stepped back and explained. I was a century old for fucks sake. One of my greatest assets was my ability to be diplomatic but that all went out the window when she was involved.

This little werewolf had a way of pushing every single button I owned.

“I would never hurt my pack members intentionally. Don’t you dare imply for a second-”

She pulled back her sleeves to reveal dark bruises on her wrists. “I’m not implying shit. The evidence is right here! I thought you were a decent man. I thought Henry was somehow misguided but you’re just like the other Alphas. You throw your weight around-”

I growled low but she didn’t stop.

“Maybe if you don’t want people to go somewhere, put up a damn sign! How was I suppose to know that you didn’t want people touching your girlfriend’s shit.”

Girlfriend?

The corner of my lips tugged upwards as I realized what this was about.

She wasn’t pissed about the bruise, she was pissed because she thought there was another woman in my life… she was jealous.

If I were a better man, I’d put her out of her misery and tell her the truth, but there was something amusing about watching her cheeks burn red.

“I’ve never been here before and you just brought me from my pack and left me here with no information, no help… nothing! If you didn’t want me here then you didn’t have to bring me. I’m a big girl, I can handle a rejection.”

“I am not rejecting you-”

“Then what do you want?” she screamed, throwing her hands up in defeat. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but for fucks sake, leave me out of it. I didn’t ask to be put between you and Henry and I sure as hell don’t want to touch your girlfriend’s shit-”

“I’ll put up a sign. Would that make you happy?” I teased.

“Very fucking happy!” she yelled. “While you’re at it, get me a goddamn map of the place.”

“Anything else?”

She stared at me for a long minute before shaking her head. “Fuck you, Rowan.”

Without another word, she brushed past me, storming out of the garden.

I watched her go, a small smile playing at the edge of my lips.

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