The moment he saw me, his face lit up with overwhelming emotion. “Ellia! I finally found you! Why did you suddenly leave?”
He was still pretending. Even though he must have realized I knew something, he clung to the hope that he could explain it away.
“That night in the greenhouse,” I said, “I saw you with Giselle. I saw everything. And I know now–you’ve had feelings for her for
three years.”
Color drained from his face. Then, all at once, it flushed a deep red. “You… You know?”
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Chapter 6
+15 BONUS
I nodded. “Now do you understand why I left? We loved each other once, Griffith. I don’t want things to turn ugly between us. I
only ask that you never appear in my life again.”
I turned to go, but he grabbed my wrist. “I never completed the bond with her,” he insisted. “I left the ceremony halfway through to come find you! You are my true mate, Ellia. You are the only one I love!”
I stared at him, unimpressed.
“You know this,” he continued, his voice growing desperate. “She and I were destined mates in the Moon Goddess’s prophecy. It was inevitable that I would feel drawn to her. At first, I resisted–I swear, I tried. But I’m a wolf, Ellia. I was in my mating season.
There were moments when I just couldn’t control-”
I didn’t let him finish.
My hand moved on its own, slapping him hard across the face.
“There is no excuse for betrayal!” My voice trembled with rage. “Three years, Griffith. You had countless chances to tell me the
truth. Instead, you kept it from me. And in the end, you even had my womb removed–to make room for her child!”
Tears blurred my vision, hot and unrelenting. The pain, the humiliation, the betrayal–I had held it all inside for too long.
I refused to waste another second on him. Without another word, I turned and climbed back into Talassa’s carriage.
The wheels creaked, and soon, we were back on our original path. I stole one last glance out the window.
Griffith stood there, motionless. He looked hollow, as if his soul had been torn from his body.
