Chapter 3

The video played on, and I cried harder with every minute of it.

By the time the nurse touched my shoulder, I was shaking so badly I could barely keep hold of the phone. My whole body was trembling, and I hadn't noticed.

What I noticed, with something close to shame, was that I still loved him.

Caspian wasn't a piece of furniture I could throw out because it had cracked. He wasn't a friend I could cut off because we'd had a falling out. He was a living person. He was the man I'd loved for six years, and by now loving him had stopped being a choice at all. It had gone into my bones, into the way I breathed.

Everyone said Caspian Hale worshiped me. They never asked whether I'd worshiped him right back.

Six years of knowing each other, and only now, sitting in a hospital corridor with my phone in my hands, did I find out I couldn't let go. I really couldn't.

Then I thought about the heartbeat I'd heard that morning — that fast, stubborn little rhythm — and I wiped my face hard and pulled in a breath.

I would give him one more chance. For the baby's sake. For all six years.

I called him.

"Can you come here? There's something I need to tell you."

His voice came back rough, oddly raw, like he was holding something back.

"Elowen — I'm in the middle of something. Have the driver take you home, and we'll talk when you get here—"

A low sound. Then the line went dead.

I'm an adult. I knew exactly what I'd just listened to.

I sat there for a long moment with the phone still against my ear. Then I looked up at the nurse waiting beside me.

"It's fine," I said, my voice hollow. "I'm ready for the procedure."

By the time the surgery was over and I finally made it back to the estate, night had already fallen.

The moment I walked through the door, Caspian came right up to meet me.

Then he caught my eyes.

"Elowen, what happened to your face? You've been crying." His voice dropped into that warm, careful register.

"Did the checkup bring it all back? That's all right. That baby is Caspian's, and that counts for something. It's how he lives on."

I looked at him. Really looked.

He was beautiful. He had always been beautiful. My reflection sat in his eyes, clear as a photograph.

The same face. The same eyes. The same mouth that had been saying Zora's name forty minutes ago.

I dropped my gaze.

"It's nothing," I said. "I was only going to ask if either of you wanted anything while I was out."

His shoulders came down. A quiet exhale, like a door easing shut.

"Go rest, then. You've had a long day."

I nodded and went to my room without answering.

I must have been more tired than I knew, because I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow — and somewhere in the dark I was eighteen again, standing in the sun on the quad.

Caspian was in front of me, ears red, working up his nerve.

"Elowen Voss. I like you. Would you be my girlfriend?"

"I'll treat you right. I promise."

Maybe the sunset was doing something to me that day. Maybe it was the way he looked at me, so completely unguarded.

Whatever it was, I heard myself say yes.

When I woke, daylight was pouring through the curtains.

I hadn't slept like that since the news broke.

I was still sitting up in bed, dazed, when the door swung open without a knock.

Zora walked in.

She looked at me, and there was no point pretending anymore. No grief. No gratitude. Just open, naked satisfaction.

"Do you know why I sent you that video yesterday?" she said.

"You really think he's Caspian's brother? You really think I'm your sister-in-law?"