Chapter Thirty-Two

Madison

I waited outside his door, cursing myself the entire time, both for what I’d said and for allowing the spark of hope to blossom.

After all, he wasn’t going to come flying through the door, running after me to try to get me to stay.

Not after the callousness of my final words to him.

A minute passed. Then two.

He’s not coming after you. He isn’t going to chase you.

He hates you.

I forced one foot to move and then the other. Taking me away from Callum. Away from any hope of immediate reconciliation.

“There won’t be any,” I whispered to nobody in particular, glad that the hallways here were generally empty unless someone was coming or going to their rooms. It limited foot traffic considerably, especially in the middle of the day.

The last thing I wanted was to be happened upon by someone and have to explain what was going on.

What was going on?

Well, I’d insulted Callum and his dead mate in a fit of unbelievable smartness. Looking back at my words, I could not see any way in which uttering them might have been beneficial to either of us.

Except they had to be said. Didn’t they?

“No, they didn’t.” I made myself say it out loud to acknowledge that I’d gone too far.

Did Callum still have some work to do, dealing with his grief and moving on, if he could ever truly be with me? Yes. That was the truth. If I’d said it that way, and without the anger, we might have been able to work through it.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t what I’d done. At all.

Now, I was homeless and alone in a world full of dragons. Beings who were stronger and faster than I was and who, on the whole, didn’t particularly enjoy having humans among them.

Things seemed liable to get really ugly, really fast, if I wasn’t careful. And if my handling of things with Callum was any indication, I wasn’t going to fare well with that.

“Stay calm. You can figure this out,” I whispered, leaning my back against a wall and staring up at the arched ceiling above.

“Madison?”

I stiffened in surprise, pulling away from the wall as someone said my name. Immediately, I jumped to thinking it was Callum, but my brain knew better. It wasn’t his voice, and my hope died instantly.

“Hi, Cleye,” I said, briefly wondering if this was some sort of cruel prank by fate to send the brother of the woman I’d insulted to find me.

“Are you okay?” Cleye asked, his eyes flicking from my hair to my feet and back as he took me in. “You look … off.”

I couldn’t not laugh at the politeness. I’d been crying. My hair was probably a mess. My clothes were probably rumpled. Yet he’d only called it “off.”

Cleye frowned. “What did I say?”

“Nothing, nothing,” I said, lifting a hand. “I’m okay.”

He nodded slowly, thin lips getting thinner as he compressed them into a line. “Are you sure about that?”

“No,” I said, putting on my brave face. “But I’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sure you will. In the meantime, is there anything I can do to help?” He smiled down at me.

I shrugged. “I don’t suppose you know of any empty quarters I could stay in, do you? Guest rooms or something?”

Cleye’s eyebrows rose, as I had assumed they would. “Somewhere other than with Cal?”

I nodded. “Yes, that would be good.”

He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. We can do that. Right now?”

“Are you sure? Do you have the time? I don’t want to interrupt whatever it was you were doing,” I said, suddenly feeling guilty for waylaying him.

“A few minutes won’t change anything one way or another,” he said, smiling down at me. “I promise. It’s really no big deal. Come on. This way.”

“Thank you,” I said, following along. “I really appreciate this. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”

“You would’ve figured it out,” Cleye said supportively. “You’re a smart woman. But I don’t mind speeding that up.”

“Thanks.” I fell silent for a minute as we walked. Wondering if I should tell him. It was obvious he was curious to know what had happened with Callum.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said as I opened my mouth to speak.

“It’s okay. There isn’t much to tell. We argued. Some things were said that shouldn’t have been. I left.”

That wasn’t quite how it went down at all, but with how nice he was being to me, I wasn’t about to tell him I’d made a rude comment about his sister being dead. That just seemed unnecessary.

“I understand,” Cleye said, briefly squeezing my shoulder. “Things happen. Emotions are complicated. Sometimes, we have to make decisions and do things that are best for ourselves even if others don’t like it or understand it.”

“That … yes,” I said slowly. “I agree. I really agree. Well said, Cleye.”

“Thank you.” He shrugged uncomfortably at the praise.

We lapsed into silence as he guided me to another wing of the palace entirely. I hadn’t been there yet, but Cleye walked with confidence. The guest rooms were not near the living quarters, he noted as we walked, so the guards could keep them separated better, and unfortunately, that meant a bit of a walk.

I didn’t care. It gave my brain time to think while my body went through motions it could do in its sleep. Walking was a perfect way to clear the mind and was something I’d done many times before. In fact, once I was settled in my new quarters, I intended to go for another long walk.

There were a lot of questions I had to ask myself, and I knew there would be some tough answers. Answers I needed to look in the eye and accept.

Including the fact that, yet again, a man in my life had proven himself incapable of being in a properly functioning relationship.

“Here,” Cleye said, interrupting my thoughts. “You should be okay to stay here for awhile.”

“Thank you again,” I said, hand on the doorknob. “I really appreciate this, Cleye. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Actually, there might be,” he said thoughtfully.

“Oh? Really? What's that?”

He smiled broadly. “You can help me ensure the one responsible for my sister’s murder is properly punished.”

I stared, shocked. “Wait, what did you find? You know who it is?”

The smile disappeared. “I’ve known all along.”