Chapter 5

“A close friend of mine is getting married. I'm going back to be her bridesmaid.”

Adrian let out a breath. “You scared me. I thought you were leaving me to go back for good.”

Where he couldn't see, I smiled coldly.

I was an orphan. I didn't even have parents in the human world. At my own wedding there wasn't a single friend to wish me well. Where would I get a close friend now?

After dinner Adrian tried to get into my bed again, and I shoved him off.

He stared at me, startled. “Penny? What's wrong?”

“The smell on you makes me want to throw up.”

Adrian sniffed at his own sleeve. “I don't smell anything. Unless you mean my natural scent?”

“Adrian. You know exactly what I mean.”

Even a human like me could smell the fox on him, thick as it was. I refused to believe a beastkin couldn't.

I truly didn't understand how a man could come home steeped in another woman's scent and still act like he loved me, easy as breathing.

In the end, I used feeling unwell as my excuse and chose to sleep apart from him again. Only this time, I was the one who took the guest room.

I wouldn't sleep in the bed my husband had shared with another woman. It made me sick.

Adrian didn't like it, but when he saw I wouldn't budge, he finally gave in.

That night, again, I slept on pills.

The strange thing was, I slept harder than ever. Somewhere in the haze, I thought I heard someone calling me, desperate.

“Penny. Penny, answer me!”

I wanted to wake, but my eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. A crushing suffocation wrapped around me, as if I were sinking in the deep, dark ocean.

Falling. Falling.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness entirely, a large hand appeared and wrenched me free.

I opened my eyes to a hospital ceiling.

Adrian was slumped beside me, his face worn to the bone, like he hadn't rested in a very long time.

What on earth had happened?

I struggled to sit up. Adrian seemed to sense movement on the bed, his eyes snapped open, and only when he saw I was safe did he let out a breath.

“You're all right. Do you have any idea how badly you scared me?”

I was dazed. “What happened to me?”

“You took a beastkin sleeping drug by mistake. That kind of thing is far too strong for you. Your body couldn't handle it. You nearly died.”

His voice dropped lower and lower, as if even imagining my death was unbearable.

Just then I noticed the blood bag feeding into my arm. The blood inside was gold, and there was only one person whose blood ran gold.

I looked at Adrian, stunned. He understood at once what I was thinking, and explained. “By the time I got you here, the toxin had already reached your blood. Your life was in danger. Merfolk blood neutralizes poison, so I—”

He stopped halfway, caught my hand, and pressed it to his lips. “You can't be hurt. If you left me alone in this world, what would I do?”

I stared at him, dumb.

For a moment, he looked again like the boy whose whole heart and gaze had once held nothing but me.

I drew my hand back, and my eyes cooled.

“Adrian. You once said you'd love only me, your whole life. Was that true?”

He blinked. “Of course it was. I gave you my scale. Doesn't that prove I love you?”

I knew what he'd said wasn't true anymore, and yet the way he looked at me was so utterly sincere.

I never doubted his old feelings for me. It was just that feelings could change in an instant.

I was no longer his only love.

“What's gotten into you?” Adrian asked, worried by my expression.

I shook my head. “I need to rest. You should go.”

He looked at me, reluctant to leave, and opened his mouth to say something. The next second, his phone rang.

His instinctively reached to decline the call. Then he saw who was calling, froze for two seconds, and something like a struggle flickered through his eyes.

“Take it. Might be work.”

“I'll be quick,” Adrian said.

He started for the door with the phone, and I called out to stop him. “Take it here. Unless it's something so secret I'm not allowed to hear?”

Adrian halted, awkward.

After a couple of seconds' hesitation, he answered, his tone edged with anger. “Didn't I say I was busy? Don't call me.”

A woman's sobbing came through. Adrian's face darkened. He took a deep breath, and his voice smoothed at once. “Fine. Wait for me.”

He shot me a glance, left a single “Get some rest,” and walked out without another word of explanation.