E, Alexander, & Sophia


    E


    “I’m sorry, E.”


    I blinked, stunned by Alexander’s sudden apology. He had never apologized before. Not for anything.


    Something about the words softened something deep inside of me-or maybe it was just my exhaustion that led me to confess. I suddenly felt guilty for lying to him, or at least for bending the truth to suit my needs.


    “Liam and I haven’t been having an affair,” I finally said, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. “I made that up just to spite you.”


    Alexander’s jaw clenched. “So you just let me believe that you were sleeping with another man.”


    “Yes,” I admitted, lowering my gaze. “And I’m sorry for not being honest.”


    “So the divorce-”


    “I still want a divorce,” I said firmly. “That was never a lie. I still intend to go through with our contract just the way it’s written.”


    Alexander didn’t reply to that. Instead, he simply asked, “Do you still want to go to the Spring Market with me?”


    Alexander


    My wolf became restless. Seeing our fated mate cry… It didn’t sit well with him. Or with me, for that matter. Even if E looked surprisingly beautiful when she cried, her blue eyes big and misty with tears, her lips just puffy enough to be kissable…


    No, I thought, inwardly chiding my wolf. I was just feeling the pull of our mate bond because of her anguish, nothing more. I certainly didn’t want to kiss her. Or anything else, for that matter. I just wanted to make her feel better.


    I didn’t know how to even begin to say the right words to E, but the guilt was starting to gnaw at me. She looked broken, tired. Like a puppet with its strings cut.


    Had I really treated her as badly as she said? Did I truly always choose Sophia over her? Did I make her feel like a servant in her own home-a ceholder while I waited for my “real” Luna?


    I hadn’t realized that I had made her feel this way, but it was clear now. Seeing the tears stream down her pale cheeks was like a p to the face, and it suddenly made me realize that perhaps this was why she had suddenly been acting out.


    She’d been bottling it up for so long, and now she thought she wanted a divorce.


    “Do you still want to go to the Spring Market with me?”


    I blurted the question out of instinct, as if a tiny shred of me thought it might make it up to her, even if only a little. I didn’t expect her to say yes. Hell, I might not have even med her if she had told me to shove it.


    But she nodded. “Yes. I want to go,” she said, staring at her feet.


    My wolf rxed at that.


    “Very well. And if there’s anything else you would like to talk about,” I said, “you can alwayse and find me. After all, we are married-you are my Luna until the divorce is finalized. Whether you believe it or not, you are the person who is supposed to run the pack beside me.”


    E jerked her head up, staring up at me with such surprise on her face that it momentarily knocked the breath from my lungs.


    Goddess, I really had made her feel like shit throughout our marriage, hadn’t I?


    Finally, she nodded. I nodded as well and turned, honestly looking forward to a hot bath after the day I’d had. That rogue’s blood was still all over me, caked into my hair and staining my leathers. And my leg was throbbing and itching from the healing process.


    But I couldn’t get far before E called out, “Actually, there is one thing I wanted to ask you.”


    I paused, ncing at her over my shoulder without turning fully. “What is it?”


    “How much money have you been giving my father?”


    Well, that certainly wasn’t the type of question I had been expecting. I hesitated for a moment, mostly just surprised that she suddenly wanted to know. She had never asked in all the years we had been married. And shouldn’t she know already from her discussions with her father?


    But there was no reason for me to say no, so I gestured for her to follow me, and she did. I led her down the hall and into my office, where I pulled open the top drawer in my desk and found a receipt. I held it out to her, and she took it, studying it for a long moment.


    “That’s… so much,” she whispered, ncing back up at me.


    The stunned look on her face took me by surprise. She didn’t know how much money I had given her father? All this time, I assumed she knew at least the general amount. I wondered for a moment if she was pretending not to know for some reason, but why?


    Either way, I didn’t feel like thinking too much about it. I was exhausted and my leg was throbbing and the scent of dried blood was nauseating me. It was just a number.


    I shrugged. “That’s the correct amount,” I said simply.


    There was a long silence. “Well, I’ll pay you back after the divorce,” she finally said, handing the receipt back to me. “If I’m still alive, that is.”


    With that, E turned on her heel and left. I stared after her, confused on numerous levels. What did she mean by “still alive?” Was she still going along with her “rare illness” story or was this some kind of hint that she intended to kill herself by the time the divorce came around?


    Divorce.


    I looked down at the receipt in my hands, confused and perturbed. So she did intend to divorce me-to reject our fated mate bond-after all.


    The very thought of the word “divorce” made me ufortable. It sent a pang shooting through my chest, like an arrow slicing directly into my heart. My mate wanted a divorce. A rejection.


    But I shook my head, slipping the receipt back into my desk, and shoved aside the notion.


    Our rtionship was just business. It always had been.


    I didn’t need to feel bothered by the thought of a divorce.


    Sophia


    Therge suite suddenly felt too small, too stuffy. Sophia paced her bedroom floor, chewing on her nails until they bled. She kept ncing out the window, watching as the sun climbed high into the sky. The celebration should be starting soon.


    Sophia grimaced and turned away from the window, not even sure if she wanted to see the moment E would emerge from the house with Alexander beside her.


    Her n had backfired spectacrly. E should have hit the ground, broken an ankle at the very least, just enough to keep her from going to the Spring Celebration. No one should have suspected Sophia. Not Sophia, never Sophia, the sweet and gentle woman who wouldn’t hurt a fly.


    Sophia felt a fresh wave of anger wash over her. That should be her going to the celebration with Alex, not that woman. Alex never should have trusted E over her.


    She had to do something, anything, to ruin E’s time at the Spring Market. She had to ensure that E never went again.


    She had to teach E a lesson-and keep her in her ce, which was in the tiny guest room all the way on the opposite side of the mansion.


    As far away from Alex as possible.