62

“Leanna?”

She takes two cups out of the cupboard and slams them down on the counter, her back still to me. Her hands grip the edge of the counter, and now I see that she’s trembling.

Her voice is distraught. “Why is she still there?”

For a heartbeat, I don’t understand what she’s talking about. Then, it hits me. “Vivian?”

“Even if you thought I was dead, you knew what she had done to me. You knew what Bella had done to me. Why are they still in that castle? Why didn’t you make them pay? You and Harriet keep saying how upset you were, but they’re still alive and well. Why didn’t you avenge my death? You say the elders forced you. Well, now they’re going to be a threat to my son.”

When her voice breaks, my mouth turns dry. “Leanna.”

I start to approach her, but without even looking at me, she lifts a hand, stopping me in my tracks. “Give me an explanation I can believe. And I want the truth. Why did you tell Bella I was a tool? I can forgive everything else, Cedric. I am even willing to forgive the fact that you made me feel so horrible in the beginning. But you replaced me!” Her jaw hardens. “Fine. You replaced me. You were never secretive about that. You always told me I was a substitute. You did what you always intended to do. So, why are you acting like you missed me and that my apparent death was so horrifying to you? How could it have been so traumatizing when Vivian is in my place? She’s your queen. She’s your mate, even if not in the true sense. In the eyes of everyone else, she is.”

“I have not allowed any other woman into our bedroom since you left, Leanna. Your things are still there. Your clothes are still there. Vivian may be in the castle, but she knows perfectly well that she is not my queen or my mate. It doesn’t matter what others may think. She knows. Everyone in the castle knows the truth.”

I put my hands on her shoulders, turning her around to face me. “You want answers. I’ll give them to you, but you need to listen.”

She pushes my hands away and pours the tea before bringing the two cups over to the kitchen table. After putting them down slightly more gently this time, she gestures toward the chairs. “Talk. I’m all ears.”

I’ve never seen her so angry, but I also know she won’t give me another opportunity to clear my name.

“I wanted to kill Vivian.” I meet her gaze, sitting down only once she has taken her seat. “I threw her and Bella into the dungeons. I tried to go after you in the Misty Forest. If you had just waited, Leanna—If you had just trusted me for a few more minutes, you would not have had to live with the belief that I betrayed you. I didn’t.”

When she doesn’t respond, I continue. “Rothan and the others stopped me from following you into the forest. If I had died in there, the Northern Kingdom would have been left without a protector. They told me to choose my duty as king because they all believed you were already dead. So did I. The guards had heard you scream. I was sure you were gone.”

Leanna’s eyes are lowered, and her hands are wrapped around her cup. Her knuckles are white.

“When I returned to the castle, I did throw both Bella and Vivian in the dungeons. But then, the elders got involved. The Northern Kingdom was trying to squash the remaining bit of rebellion in the East. Without Vivian’s presence in the North, it would have been impossible to force the Eastern Kingdom to cooperate with us. And Bella is the eldest daughter and heir of one of the noble families. Her execution would’ve sparked conflict within the kingdom, and if I had to focus my attention on domestic politics, I would not have been able to fight at the border and protect the Veil. The elders knew that. They knew I couldn’t allow the kingdom to descend into chaos. They threatened me with all of this because they predicted how I would react.” Anger courses through me and my hand curls into a fist. “I had to make a choice, Leanna. Protect all of my people or get rid of the two who hurt you.”

A fat teardrop falls into her tea.

“As king, I had to make the choice I made. I couldn’t turn my back on my people. So, after stripping Bella of all her power and authority, I decided to stay away from the castle. Vivian was disgraced and humiliated when I left her standing at the altar by herself on the morning of our mating ceremony. Even though she lives in the castle and wears the crown, she is only acknowledged as queen by the commoners who don’t know the truth. And even they are not happy about it. They don’t like her. You brought change into their lives. You are the queen of their hearts. She is queen in name only, the queen they’re forced to acknowledge. The nobles forced me to give her that title, but she has no power over anyone. She is a political prisoner and nothing more.”

Leanna doesn’t meet my gaze. I wait for her to speak. Was I always this anxious around her? Did she always make me so nervous?

“You’ve changed,” she finally whispers.

Her words are unexpected, and I blink. “What?”

She looks up at me wearily. “You never used to talk so much.”

“But you asked me to talk.”

She lets out an abrupt laugh that is filled with both bitterness and sadness. “Yes, I did.”

She studies me, and I don’t like the heaviness behind her gaze. “Leanna, I never betrayed you.”

She presses her lips together. Her voice is strangled as she says, “I know.”

I should feel relieved, but something bothers me. “Shouldn’t you be pleased?” I ask slowly. “Why do you look as if you don’t like the truth?”

She moves her shoulders in a half shrug. “It’s been eight years, Cedric. I don’t know you. You don’t know me. My life is here. Yours is in the North. I can’t live there again. I don’t want to go back, and if you force me, I won’t be happy. I’m free here.”

“I won’t take away your freedom.” My heart is sinking.

“No.” She gives me a humorless smile. “But if I go there, I’ll be nothing. You need Vivian, like you said. So, where would I fit in? And I’m not foolish. You want your son with you, and I know Erik won’t risk your wrath for just Finn and me. Even if I try to take Finn away, I know you will track us down.”