Chapter 192
Cecilia’s POV
Whispers followed me everywhere I went.
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They slithered through the palace halls and curled around me like smoke, impossible to escape no matter how hard I tried. Servants fell silent when I passed. Guards exchanged looks when they thought I wasn’t paying attention.
Even some of the other concubines were staring, though that part wasn’t as new. They seemed always to be watching me… even more so now that Vivien was found dead and Elora had disappeared from the palace.
In all honesty, I couldn’t even blame them.
Warren refused to leave me alone.
The worst part of it was that a small part of me still looked for him whenever I traveled through the halls. I became accustomed to him, appearing out of nowhere now, and despite my refusal to speak with him, I still hoped that I would see him for at least a moment before reality settled back into my mind.
I knew it wasn’t good for me, though, so I started to change my routine entirely in hopes of avoiding him further. If I usually visited the gardens in the morning, I would go at night instead. If I ate meals in the dining hall, I switched to eating in small lounges, tucked away from the rest of the palace.
And yet it didn’t seem to matter because he always found me.
“How long are we going to be playing this game?”
I startled, nearly dropping the cup I nm hands as Warren slid into the empty chair beside me in the small lounge near the east wing.
I pressed my hand to my chest, steadying my rapid heartbeat, and then let out a slow and long breath.
“How did you even know I was here?” I asked him, a bit breathless. “I never come to this lounge.”
Nobody ever came to this lounge.
His mouth twitched in amusement.
“You smell like lavender and irritation. It wasn’t hard,” he murmured.
Despite myself, I felt my lips threaten to curve. I hated what he did to me.
“You shouldn’t keep seeking me out,” I murmured, lowering my gaze to the tea in my hands. “People are talking, and soon enough, Leopold will hear them. He will blame me.”
“He won’t,” Warren said, his eyes searching my face. “He knows what you mean to me…”
I looked away from him; the weight of his gaze was too much for me to handle.
“You can’t say things like that,” I whispered.
“Why?”
Because it meant too much; because every time he looked at me like that, it became harder to breathe. Because I was already losing pieces of myself to him. I couldn’t let that happen. He had a mate he was planning to make a queen… and I had a mate too. Whoever he might be.
A mate whose mark disappeared off my neck, as it had never been there in the first place. And yet, at this very moment, it felt warm and fresh like I could reach up and feel it as we speak. But I knew once I did, I would feel nothing but smooth skin.
“Because you are getting married,” I tell him, standing to my feet. “And I am returning to my pack.”
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I started to walk away, but he stood up quickly and grabbed hold of my wrist. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it was firm, and it grounded me in a way that nothing else ever had. I turned around to face hint, my heart practically in my throat.
“Cecilia…” he started to say
“Warren, please,” I interrupted. “I have to go.
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