“Although it’s a satellite phone, signal is almost impossible to reach here, as you can imagine, so I doubt the battery will last more than ten minutes. My advice would be to calm down first, so you can converse with your family freely, without worrying them. If that is what you choose, of course,” he said and shifted in his seat with an intention to stand.
I grabbed his hand over the table, squeezing it tightly. “Thank you,” I said, struggling to see his face through the mess of tears.
The fae didn’t respond, his only reply an encouraging squeeze of a hand.
“I’ll give you privacy,” he said and stood, walking toward the door.
“Rhylan?” I called after him and he immediately turned. “Stay with me?”
My heart thumped in my chest and I didn't trust my fingers, didn’t want to do this by myself, so I figured that if I focused my attention on him, I could at least try and go through a few minutes without crying.
“Of course,” he replied and returned to his seat, giving me a moment to calm down. When I signalled I was ready, he typed in the first number and passed it to me at the second ring.
“Jason Odstar.” I could recognise that voice anywhere. I started smiling and crying at the same time.
“Daddy?”
“Anwen baby, is that you?” The joy in my father’s voice resounded through the entire room. We spoke for long minutes, my parents passing the phone between them, sometimes asking me the same question, but I did not mind, the joy of hearing them overpowering everything. I assured them I was fine, that I would be home soon and business went great, telling them how I met new people every day and how I had to wear amazing dresses for daily events. Not a lie in its entirety.
Aware of the time and not wanting to let them go abruptly, I said my goodbyes and told both of them how much I loved them before I passed the phone back to Rhylan with shivering hands, watching how he pressed the red button to end the call.
“You will see them again soon, I promise,” Rhylan grabbed my hand in his, reassuringly, and I smiled. I truly smiled back at him with no prejudice or judgement, seeing him as the companion I needed at that moment.
“Come, I’ll walk you back,” he said after I had fully calmed down, passing me the two remaining chocolate bars. “For your prince,” he groaned, more as a joke, which made me chuckle.
“Thank you,” I replied and headed to the door, which he opened for me, both of us leaving his place with a wide smile splayed on our faces.
“I see the new couple had a pleasant evening,” Ansgar’s voice echoed from the corridor and I turned to see him only a few steps away from us.
Watching me leave Rhylan’s room. With a smile on my face.
Oh. My. God.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Please excuse me,” I only said and skittered past them into the corridor. I heard Anwen’s voice calling after me with desperation, but I hurried through the dark hallways, wanting to leave the image behind. Unable to believe what I had seen.
My mate.Mymate leaving Rhylan’s room with a satisfied smile on her face. Even the bastard looked different, pleased. I didn’t have to think too hard to find a reason for such gratification, not in an officially courting couple.
How had I been such an imbecile? Rhylan had stated his intention with Anwen in front of the royal family and played with me, yet again, to keep me out of the way. To keep Anwen displeased and alone, so he could swoop in and offer her the consolation I would not. And I took the bait like an idiot.
I couldn’t remember how long I ran for or where my feet took me, even though I was probably late to meet Marreth. I looked around like a dimwit, my eyes burning and unable to focus on their surroundings after the image I had witnessed.
“Ansgar!” A voice called after me, so far away and distant, coming from another world. Yet judging by the grip on my shoulders, it had come from the person standing right next to me. The commander.
It didn’t take him long to study the dread on my face, to see my shaking body, filled with perturbation and remorse.
“Ansgar, what’s wrong?” he shook my shoulder, my body so frail that it moved along, unable to steady my bones.
Bile rose in my stomach and I had no other choice but expulse it, vomiting the remainder of my dinner right at Marreth’s feet. My stomach took a few turns and even after everything was released, it still tightened, forcing my belly to constrict yet again. Unfortunately, the hurt could not be vomited away.
Poor Marreth stood by me, crouching at my side and gripping my hair. It reminded me a lot of Vikram and the way we used to hold each other’s hair when we drank ourselves close to death at festivities, hiding away in one of the servant’s quarters to avoid our mother's wrath.
When I calmed down enough to let myself fall to the ground, he directed me towards the wall and away from my sick, allowing me to gasp new air.
“What happened?” he asked, concern formatting his face while he scanned my broken self.
“Anwen…” I mumbled, the rest of my words inaudible, protruding only my brain.
