Total pages in book: 207
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Soleil’s teary laugh cut her off.
“You think I haven’t forgiven him? You think that is what this is all about?” She swallowed. “How can I not forgive him when he’s saved my life more than once? I haven’t even been able to stop loving him, and I doubt I ever will until...” She bit her lip. “The reason I can’t make myself face him is because I am too ashamed. He saw me dying, and he so he was forced to lie about loving me and taking me as his heartkeeper. He didn’t know then that it would be for forever. My curse ensures that whoever terminates the union will die, and he didn’t know that when he saved me.” Tears ran down her face. “He saved me, and in return I have forever closed the door on any chance of him taking the other woman as his heartkeeper—-”
Zari protested, “But she already belongs to the demon duke—-”
“If Alexandru belongs to someone else, will it stop you from loving him?”
Zari paled.
“Exactly.” Soleil smiled sadly. “And we may say that his grace and his heartkeeper are in love now, but how do we know it won’t change? How do we know that maybe in the future she will not find herself loving Ilie—-” She took a deep breath. “The marquis will not even entertain such an idea, of course, not only because of his honor and his friendship with the duke, but because he thinks it will hurt me.” Soleil’s fists clenched. “That’s why I’ve decided to request for the spell that would permanently erase my memories of him.”
Her heart ached at the words.
She thought about the marquis’ wolfish smile and the wicked gleam in his silver eyes—-
She thought about the way they danced in the ball.
She thought about the way he sounded when he asked her to be his heartkeeper.
Be my heartkeeper, ma lisse.
Take my heart.
Share your soul.
Spend eternity with me.
She remembered the way he rocked her in his arms, and how he began to bleed tears of blood, which had fallen on her cheeks.
I love you, Soleil.
Be my heartkeeper.
Soleil squeezed her eyes shut.
Liar.
Liar.
Liar.
But she couldn’t blame him for not saying the truth, could she?
I love you, Soleil.
Be my heartkeeper.
She was almost tempted to cover her ears so she wouldn’t hear his words, playing over and over in her mind. Desperately, she tried to mentally hum the lilting notes of La Vie En Rose, but it didn’t work.
None of it worked.
The world was too, too silent if he was not with her.
I love you, Soleil.
Be my heartkeeper.
She whispered, “If I d-don’t remember him, I will not be hurt—-”
Someone knocked urgently on Zari’s door, cutting her off, and when Zari opened the door, it was to find one of the school guards trying to catch his breath. “Lady Zari. Lady Soleil. Someone’s trying to break into ANEX.”
Soleil was the first one to recover from her shock, and she demanded, “What? Who?” But she had already started running as she spoke, and the guard did his best to catch up with her.
As they ran down the stairs, the guard huffed out, “It’s Lord Ilie, milady.”
Chapter Thirteen
Acrowd of students had gathered in front of the gates, preventing Soleil from seeing right away what was happening. Most of the boys were either yelling or booing while the female students appeared distressed and almost embarrassed.
Forcing her way through the crowd, Soleil finally emerged in front and she gasped when she saw ANEX’s highest-ranking security officers jeering at the marquis as they used the shields of the school to repeatedly push Ilie back.
She wanted to shout at them to stop, but she knew they were within their rights at what they were doing. Since her ordeal, access to ANEX had been indefinitely withdrawn for the marquis. Any attempt of the marquis to enter would be automatically considered an attack against the school.
Surely he knew that, too?
She moved forward, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see past the school’s shield of invisibility, but the moment she did, the marquis stiffened, his head jerking up.
“Soleil?”
Oh. How it hurt, oh dear Lord, how it hurt to hear her name on his lips.
Her scent reached out to him, and even though he couldn’t see her, he knew she was there. “Soleil, answer me.”
She asked brokenly, “What do you think you’re doing, milord?”
He shook his head as he slowly forced himself to get up. It was clear that his body was still struggling to accept her soul, and that his power wasn’t at full force. “Should I not be the one to ask you that?” He stared at her as he spoke, and it did feel like he could see her even though common sense told her all he would be able to see was rows upon rows of weeds.
“Should I not be the one asking about your sanity?” Ilie’s voice was hoarse with pain. “Should I not be the one asking about what you plan to do?”