Angel’s POV
"Am I interrupting sothing?" His voice was deadly quiet. Too quiet.
"Just showing our guest around," rrick said smoothly, though he didn’t step away from . "Is there sothing you need, brother?"
The word ’brother’ carried an edge I couldn’t interpret.
"The Alpha requests Angel’s presence," Uriel said flatly. "Sothing about discussing sleeping arrangents for tomorrow."
It was obviously a lie.
But I couldn’t exactly call him on it without causing a scene.
"Of course." rrick finally stepped back, though his hand lingered on mine for a mont longer than necessary. "Until tomorrow, Angel. I’ll show you the rest of the grounds if the sun’s out. You’ll love the gardens."
"I’m sure I will. Thank you."
I moved toward Uriel, hyper-aware of the tension crackling between the two brothers.
When I reached him, he imdiately started walking, forcing to hurry to keep up.
"That was rude," I said quietly once we were out of earshot.
"Was it?" His voice was clipped. Cold. "Tell , Angel - do you make it a habit of letting strange n get that close to you? Of letting them touch you like that?"
"He wasn’t... we weren’t..."
"I saw exactly what you were." He stopped walking and turned to face , his eyes blazing with sothing I couldn’t na. "He was about to kiss you. And you were going to let him."
"So what if I was?" The words burst out before I could stop them. "What does it matter to you? You’ve made it clear you prefer won like Lyra and Sera. Won who are slim and beautiful and..."
"I never said that."
"You didn’t have to! I saw the way you looked at them." Tears pricked my eyes, and I hated myself for it. "So forgive if I’m a little confused about why you care who I talk to or who almost kisses ."
"Angel..."
"No." I stepped back when he reached for . "I’m not doing this with you today."
I turned and walked away quickly before he could try to stop .
*****
I was still trying to compose myself when I reached the corridor outside my room.
Lyra was pacing.
Not walking. Not standing. Pacing. Back and forth in front of my door like a restless cat, her hands wringing together, her expression the picture of barely contained anxiety.
The mont she spotted , she descended.
"There you are!" She grabbed my arm before I could even reach for the door handle. "I’ve been waiting forever. We need to talk. Right now. Imdiately."
"Lyra..."
"Angel. Pleaseeee..."
She basically herded through my own door.
I sighed and let her in.
The room was exactly as I’d left it - beautiful and warm. I moved to sit on the edge of the bed while Lyra positioned herself in the chair opposite, leaning forward like she was about to interrogate a prisoner.
"Tell everything," she said.
"About what?"
"About rrick." She said his na like a prayer. "You just spent ti alone with him. What did you talk about? What did he say? Did he..." She lowered her voice. "Did he say anything about ?"
Oh, God.
"We just talked," I said carefully. "Nothing serious."
"Nothing serious?" She looked personally offended. "Angel, the man barely let you out of his sight at dinner, practically whispered in your ear all evening, and then offered to show you around personally. That’s not nothing."
"He’s just being hospitable."
"Hospitable," she repeated flatly. "Right. Because every lord personally escorts random female guests around his castle at night. That’s completely standard behavior."
I had nothing to say to that.
Lyra leaned forward further. "Was it you? Did you do sothing? Say sothing specific? Was it the dress? Because you did look amazing in that dress, but I need to understand his interest."
"You need to be careful, Angel." Her tone shifted slightly, becoming more serious. "The Alpha is watching everything. If he gets the impression that sothing is developing between you and rrick - or you and Uriel - it won’t be good."
"Nothing is going on."
"Are you sure? Because rrick kept looking at you like you were the dessert course." She paused. "A very generous dessert course that he intended to savor."
I pressed my lips together.
"What did he actually say to you?" Lyra pressed. "Out on that walkway. What did Lord rrick of the fancy castle and the incredible face actually say to you, a woman he just t?"
I was quiet for a long mont, debating.
But Lyra was watching with such intense focus that I knew she wouldn’t let it go.
And honestly, refusing to talk about it would look like I was hiding sothing significant. Which I was, but not in the way she’d think.
"He prefers curvy won," I said finally. Simply.
Lyra blinked. "What?"
"That’s why he was paying attention to . He prefers won with curves. That’s his type."
Lyra stared at with the expression of soone trying to solve a very complicated mathematical equation.
"Curvy won," she repeated slowly.
"Yes."
"Won like..." She gestured vaguely at all of .
"Yes."
"Lord rrick. Who looks like that. With that face, that money, that castle. Prefers won like you."
"Apparently."
Lyra was silent for a full ten seconds.
Then she stood up, smoothed her dress, and walked to the door with the expression of a woman who had just received information that required imdiate private processing.
"I see," she said, her hand on the doorknob.
"Lyra..."
"Goodnight, Angel."
She left, closing the door softly behind her.
I stared at the door for a mont, wondering what exactly was going through her head.
Then I fell backward onto the bed, stared at the ceiling, and thought about intense silver eyes and warm hands and the feeling of almost being kissed.
And the fury in another silver eyes that had interrupted it.
Don’t think about it.
I closed my eyes.
Sleep found faster than I expected.
Terrell’s POV
I found rrick in his study.
Of course he was expecting .
He was already seated behind his desk, a glass of wine in his hand, the portrait of calm amusent when I slamd the door open hard enough to rattle the paintings on the walls.
"Brother," he greeted pleasantly. "Wine?"
"Stay away from her."
"You’ve said that already."
"I’m saying it again." I crossed the distance to his desk in three strides and planted both hands on the surface, leaning until we were eye level. "This is your final warning, rrick. Final. If I see you touch her again, whisper in her ear again, look at her the way you were looking at her on that walkway..."
"You’ll what?" He raised his eyebrow. "Kill ? We’ve established that’s not going to happen."
"I’ll make you wish you were dead."
"Oh, very creative." He sipped his wine. "Tell , what exactly did I do wrong? I showed a beautiful woman around my ho. I paid her genuine complints. I made her feel seen and appreciated." He tilted his head. "Which, from what I understand, is more than you’ve managed to do."
"You were about to kiss her."
"Almost." He smiled. "Almost is a very significant word, isn’t it? Almost ans it didn’t happen. And the only reason it didn’t happen is because you - the man she believes is just a simple warrior with no claim over her - ca storming in like a jealous husband." He paused aningfully. "Interesting behavior for soone who planned to reject her."
The reminder of my original intention felt like a scorpion’s sting.
"My plans are my own concern."
"They were. Now they’ve beco mine, because you’ve brought this girl into my ho, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested." rrick set down his wine glass. "You know what I think about every ti I look at Angel?"
"I don’t want to hear it."
"Too bad. I think about what a sha it is. That a woman with that much genuine goodness, that much grace and forgiveness and raw humanity, has been handed to the one man in existence who can’t simply say, I care about you, and I’m sorry for what I did."
The silence that followed was heavy.
"She’d leave," I said quietly. "If she knew the truth. She’d run, and I couldn’t stop her without proving every terrible thing she believes about ."
"So instead you’ll keep lying? Keep playing Uriel, the good man who doesn’t exist?"
"Uriel exists," I said, surprising myself.
rrick stared at .
"He’s the man I want to be," I continued, more quietly. "The man I could be. With her."
My brother was quiet for a long mont, his usual amusent fading away.
"Terrell," he said finally, "What you just said is exactly why you need to tell her the truth. Not as a warrior. Not as Uriel. But as yourself."
"She’ll hate ."
"She already hates Alpha Terrell. But she doesn’t hate you. And if you give her a chance to know the real you - not the monster, not the perfect warrior..."
"Don’t," I said. "Don’t give hope when you’re also trying to steal her."
rrick had the grace to look slightly sheepish. "My interest in Angel is genuine. But I’m not your enemy, brother. I’m just..." He picked up his wine again. "Reminding you that she has options. That she’s a person deserving of real care and honesty. Whether that cos from you or soone else."
"It’ll co from ," I said. Quietly. Certainly.
"Then do sothing about it." He waved toward the door. "Because I’m not backing down."
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