My soul is torn, and my heart is heavy as the knowledge of what I'm going to have to do to keep Amelia safe weighs on me.
ChapterSix
Amelia
Igive a glorious stretch as I wake up. My body is deliciously sore, reminding me of the way Julian took me last night.
I open my eyes and roll over with a smile, ready to greet him with a good morning kiss, but I frown instead when I find the bed empty.
My frown only deepens when I realize that I'm not in Julian's bed at all.
I sit up sharply and look around at my unfamiliar surroundings. My heart begins to hammer in my chest.
I have no clue where I am, and a ball of dread pits in my stomach. Something's not right.
I hop out of the bed only to find myself dressed. Well, not fully dressed but I’m covered in a nightie anyway. Someone has taken the time to wrap me up.
Sunlight is already streaming through the window blinds, and I pull them completely open and take a good look around the space.
It's beautiful and modern—a fun, contemporary space. It's like a high-class college loft.
I see a piece of paper sitting on the marble counter and rush over to it, hoping for some sort of explanation that will make sense.
My jaw falls open when I see the note. Well, it's not really a note. It’s more like a printout of a bank account with my name on it. My eyes bug out of my head at all those zeros, and then my heart plummets to the floor as I drop the note.
I know what this means. Julian is done with me. He got what he wanted, and now he's returning me to my realm like an expensive prostitute.
My heart shatters into a million tiny pieces as tears began streaming down my cheeks.
How could he do this to me? He said he was going to make me his queen. He called me his love, his everything.
Yet as soon as I sleep with him, he tosses me away like so much garbage, depositing millions into an account as payment for services rendered, I suppose.
I've never felt lower than I do at this moment. I feel used, and that makes my sorrow ultimately morph into anger. I let out a scream as I drop to my knees. I grab the paper and rip it violently.
“Fuck you, Julian!” I scream out into the beautiful apartment that I don't want to like but do. “Fuck you!” I scream again, not knowing if he can hear me and not even caring. I just have to get all this out.
My chest squeezes before I dissolve into a puddle of angry tears.
I should have known he was too good to be true. He was too beautiful for me. How naïve of me to think I would be enough for a creature like him. I was just a challenge, and now that he's mastered me, he has no more use for me. I still don't understand what he saw in me in the first place.
And I guess I never will.
* * *
Julian
Amelia's criestear at my heart. It's all I can do not to swoop in to her and take her in my wings, tell her I'm sorry, that I didn't mean any of it, that I don't want to let her go, but that it's for her own good, that I'm just trying to protect her, that this is killing me, that it's ripping me in two.
But I know I can't do any of that. If I truly love her, I have to let her go. I have to keep her away from Michael. I put a restriction on him that keeps him from moving to other realms right now. He's not stupid. He'd find her if I gave him freedom of movement.
Oh, he's furious as fuck about it, but I don't care. If I let him roam free, he’d simply follow her, and I certainly can't keep her in the kingdom—not now because he'll be ever after her.
The only other choice I have is to kill my brother, and I've already lost one brother to his greed. I don't want to lose the other.
I tell myself that I'm not losing Amelia now. I can still watch over her as much as I want. I can still adore her from afar like I've done for years.
My body brays against me at the thought of never touching her again, though. It's like a knife has been twisted in my stomach as I witness her pain, but when her sorrow turns to anger and she begins screaming and ranting at me, I take hope. I'd much rather have her anger over her pain any day. She can rage at me all she wants if that's what it takes to get her through this.