Chapter 2

Elena's POV

Something in his face finally changed.

"Elena."

I didn't stop.

As the ring came off, it left a faint band around the base of my finger.

I put it into his hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving it back."

"I never told you to give it back."

"I don't need it anymore."

Adrian's expression darkened.

"Over this? Over today?"

I looked at him and had nothing to say.

To him, today was only today.

This test was only one test.

He wouldn't remember me crying through a whole night hunting for evidence that I hadn't taken money from a noble.

He wouldn't remember standing at my hospital bed, right after I lost the baby, and asking whether the pregnancy had been a way to force him to marry me.

And he would never know how long it took me, after every accusation, to talk myself into understanding him again.

Adrian is only being careful.

He is the Prince's heir, and there are too many people around him who want to use him.

I should understand.

That is what I told myself, every time.

But today, with my mother gone, I was finally too tired to keep making excuses for him.

I reached inside my coat.

My fingers touched cold, hard metal.

The access crest. I had always kept it on me.

Touching it, I suddenly remembered years ago.

Adrian had just told me what he was.

For the first time, I learned that the man who often ate with me and accompanied me to bookstores in the human world was not an ordinary businessman at all.

He was a vampire.

He was the heir to the royal house, the highest-ranking family among the vampire clans.

My first reaction was to keep my distance.

I was an ordinary human. I had no business in a place that wasn't mine.

But Adrian followed me to my building.

He put the crest into my palm.

He told me that with it I could come and go from his estate as I liked.

I asked why he would hand me something that important.

He laughed then.

He said, "I trust you completely."

It was that sentence that made me believe, for the first time, that he was serious about me.

He didn't think less of me for being human.

He didn't wonder what I was after.

Not then, at least.

I put the crest into his hand as well.

Adrian froze.

He looked down at the two things in his palm and said nothing for a long moment.

The smile on Seraphina's face faded too.

"Elena, what is the point of doing this now?"

I shook my head.

"Nothing at all."

There had never been any point in any of it.

I simply didn't want it anymore.

Adrian finally looked up, frowning.

"Elena, you are upset. I can have someone take you back first.

"We can talk about the wedding later."

My expression didn't change. I only shook my head and said quietly, "There's no need."

Adrian's face darkened.

I no longer wanted to argue with him.

I turned for the door.

His voice came from behind me. "Elena."

I stopped for a moment.

For one second I was still waiting.

Perhaps he would say he hadn't really doubted me.

Perhaps he would tell me this test would be the last.

But after waiting a few seconds, he only said in a low voice, "Go home tonight and think it through. I'll wait for you to come and explain."

I closed my eyes.

This time I didn't stop again.

It was fully dark outside the hotel.

When the wind came, I noticed how empty my hands were.

The ring was gone.

The crest was gone.

Years ago I had walked into Adrian's estate for the first time wearing that crest.

I had thought then that I would live there a long time.

Perhaps for the rest of my life.

And now I knew.

Leaving his world wasn't hard at all.

There was genuinely nothing in me that wanted to stay.

All I had to do was walk out.