Chapter 65: Chapter 65

~ ROWAN

The doors to the dining room slammed open and I glanced up over the rim of my coffee mug to find Nyssa standing in the middle of the doorway with her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

“The Queen’s chambers!” she exclaimed. “Are you fucking with me right now?”

Next to me, Aria raised a brow in amusement, taking in the scene with a small smile at the corner of her lips. She leaned back in her chair, abandoning her breakfast sandwich and crossed her arms over her chest.

“This will be fun,” she murmured under her breath.

I ignored her and turned all my attention to Nyssa who was still seething.

Behind her, the guards looked a bit uncomfortable. The door was wide open and they couldn’t shut it because she stood directly in the doorway.

“You’re letting a draft in,” I said, gesturing to the open doors. “Come in, please.”

“Don’t try to play this off, Rowan,” she snapped, but to my relief, she stepped further into the room, giving the guards outside the opportunity to close the doors. “Why the fuck would you put me in the Queen’s chambers?”

I shrugged. “Because it was the nearest room.”

“Bullshit. What happened to the other room I stayed in before?”

“It’s under renovation.”

Aria snorted loudly and I shot her a scathing look. My lie was unbelievable enough without her added commentary.

She held up her hands in mock surrender, but I didn’t miss the smile that she was trying to suppress.

“I want the old room,” Nyssa demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. “The whole palace probably thinks—”

“That you’re my mate?” I asked, cutting her off. “They would be right. There is no use hiding it from them. They’ll find out sooner or later.”

She stared at me like I’d grown a second head.

She gaped at me, mouth opening and closing before finally deciding on a sound of pure frustration that bubbled out of her throat.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing at but—”

“There’s no game,” I assured her. “You wanted me to be sure about you. You asked me to make a choice. This is me making a choice.”

“You don’t just make a choice overnight, Rowan. You don’t go from asking me to leave to announcing to the world that we’re mates.”

My head cocked to the side in confusion. “Why not?”

She threw her hands up in defeat. “I can’t do this with you.”

Before I could respond, she was already storming out of the dining room, her footsteps echoing in the distance.

I turned to Aria who was already watching me. She seemed more amused with the situation than she had any right to be.

“That was good entertainment, I can’t lie,” she drawled. “You’re just going to let her walk away?”

I shrugged. “She wants space, doesn’t she? That’s why she left.”

Aria shook her head with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did. “You men are so clueless.”

“Actually, I think you women are just confusing. She asked me to make a choice and I did. I brought her back, I put her in the Queen’s chambers—”

“That isn’t going to make up for all the shit you put her through,” she cut me off firmly. “You’ve never acknowledged the mate bond before now and you sent her away. She isn’t going to switch up overnight simply because you ask her to. You have to woo her.”

I frowned. “How does one do that?”

“I can’t believe you’ve been alive for so long and you’re still so clueless.” She rolled her eyes. “Get up and go after her! Reassure her! That’s all she wants to hear. That’s all any woman wants to hear.”

I was on my feet immediately, heading straight for the doors.

I stopped with my hand on the doorknob, walked over to Aria and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Thank you.”

“If you want to thank me then give me a fucking vacation!” she yelled out, but I was already out of the dining room.

I followed Nyssa’s scent through the halls and out the front doors of the palace.

I felt the watchful eyes of the guards as I walked past, walking round the building like I’d lost something.

Nyssa would make a fool of me, I knew that much, and yet, I went blindly, following her scent towards my mother’s garden.

She sat on the bench with her back to me, but I saw her straighten the moment I approached.

“You should leave,” she whispered softly. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Good, then maybe you can listen.”

She turned to me, eyes flashing with anger and something else… something vulnerable. I couldn’t put a finger on what it was.

“What could you possibly have to say?” she hissed. “You were very clear when you asked me to leave. I don’t believe for a second that you changed your mind and suddenly want me. If this is about Henry’s pack, I can start a new life in a human town. You don’t have to feel responsible for me. I am an adult and I can handle rejection—”

“If I wanted to reject you, I would have done so by now,” I told her simply. “Keeping you in that room had nothing to do with Henry. If it did, I would have put you there the moment you arrived.”

“Why do it now?”

“Because…” I trailed off, running my fingers through my hair with a sigh. “I am not a good man.”

She snorted, rolling her eyes hard. “So you’ve said.”

“I was trying to do the right thing by keeping you away. I thought it would be best for you but… you are in my head, Nyssa.”

“It’s the mating bond, you’ll get over it after you reject—”

“No,” I cut her off. “You are in my head. You are in my dreams and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t scrub you out.”

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