Chapter 352: Moving On

Rebecca’s POV

​Shit.

​Why was he walking toward me?

​My steps almost slowed, but I forced myself to keep moving. Turning around would only make things worse. Besides, what was I supposed to do? Run in the opposite direction because I had seen Kaden coming?

​That would be ridiculous.

​And obvious. Very, very obvious.

​Walking toward me from the opposite end of the hallway was Kaden. He was alone, his tall, imposing figure cutting through the dim torchlight as he approached with his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark trousers. There was nothing on his face to suggest he was having the same problem I was currently having.

​Of course not. Why would he?

​He had just spent the evening having a romantic birthday dinner with his girlfriend, while I had spent the last hour walking around the palace trying to understand why seeing them together bothered me so much.

​I swallowed the dry lump in my throat and forced my face into a completely neutral expression as the distance between us disappeared. Kaden slowed when he reached me, his eyes sweeping briefly over my face.

​"You’re still out," Kaden said, his deep voice carrying through the empty corridor. "It’s late."

​"Yes," I replied, keeping my tone calm and even. "I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to walk around for a while."

​Kaden nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. For a few seconds, neither of us said anything. The silence shouldn’t have been uncomfortable. We had spoken several times since I joined the unit. We trained together every day. We had even managed to have conversations without wanting to kill each other, which, considering our history, deserved some kind of award.

​Still, standing alone with him in a quiet hallway at this hour felt different.

​Kaden rubbed the back of his neck before looking at me again. "Thank you. For helping Rola with the surprise."

​A sharp pain went through my chest, but I kept my composure. "You don’t have to thank me." I shrugged slightly. "She couldn’t ask Kane or Logan, and she really wanted to do something special for you. I couldn’t say no. Rola is a sweet girl." I took a quiet breath before adding, "Congratulations, Kaden. You got yourself a nice woman."

​Kaden didn’t smile. For a moment, he simply looked at me, his gaze heavy and difficult to read. Then he said, "Well, I heard Melvin yesterday."

​I blinked, taken aback by the sudden change of subject. "What?"

​"When he was talking to you on the stone path," Kaden clarified, his voice calm. "He said he wants to court you. He wants to speak to your father about marriage."

​My fingers curled into tight fists inside my pockets. I hadn’t expected him to bring that up. "I haven’t decided anything yet," I said softly, looking past his shoulder. "He has been asking me to give him a chance for a while, but marriage is... a lot. I need to get to know him first."

​"Melvin is a good man," Kaden said, his tone surprisingly composed. "I’ve dealt with him several times over the years. He has no bad records that I know of. He’s a good ruler, and his people respect him. But yes, take your time. It’s your decision."

​I stared at him.

​Was Kaden seriously giving me a character reference for another man?

​Apparently, yes.

​My chest felt strangely heavy. Kaden remained there for another second, almost as though there was something else sitting on the tip of his tongue. But whatever it was, he swallowed it back.

​"Goodnight, Rebecca," he murmured before stepping around me and continuing down the hall.

​"Goodnight," I whispered.

​I continued toward my room, but my chest felt completely hollow. There had been no strange look. No hesitation. No turning back. Nothing.

​See how easily he had talked about it? See how calmly he had told me to take my time with another man? Three years ago, the thought of me with someone else would have made him tear the world apart. Now he was giving me advice like a polite acquaintance.

​But why did I feel disappointed?

​What exactly had I expected him to do? Tell me not to marry Melvin? Get angry? Remind me that we had once been mates?

​I was the one who had wanted the bond gone. I was the one who had asked him to reject me, and he had done exactly what I asked because, at the time, it was the only way either of us could move forward. Now he had moved forward. That was supposed to be a good thing.

​So why did seeing just how easily he could stand there and talk to me about another man marrying me hurt so much?

​I drew in a deep, shaky breath, letting the cool night air fill my lungs. "Move on, Rebecca," I whispered to myself. "He has too."

​When I opened the door to our room, the lamps were still lit. Rola was sitting up in bed with her knees pulled to her chest, wearing a pair of silk pajamas, though she was still glowing as if she were wearing that emerald dress from dinner. The second I walked inside, her head snapped toward me, her eyes practically shining with excitement.

​"Where have you been?" she asked, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t disturb the other candidates down the hall.

​"Just getting some fresh air," I replied, closing the door behind me. "I couldn’t sleep."

​I couldn’t help noticing the excitement practically radiating from her. She looked like she had just won an entire kingdom.

​I was already fighting for my life emotionally tonight. But curiosity, or maybe a twisted form of self-torture, got the better of me.

​I removed my jacket, tossed it over the back of a chair, and walked toward my bed. "What happened? You seem really excited."

​Rola clasped her hands together before pulling her legs onto the bed and hugging a pillow against her chest. A breathless giggle escaped her lips. "We did it, Rebecca!"

​I froze with one hand hovering over my blanket as my stomach sank.

​My brain stopped working.

​We did it.

​There were several things those three words could mean, and unfortunately, my mind immediately chose the worst possible one.

​Oh. They had sex.

​Great. Fantastic.

​A strange heaviness settled inside me, and I almost laughed at myself. Of course they had. They were adults, they had been dating for four months, and they had just spent the evening alone in a romantic garden filled with candles and wine. What exactly did I think was going to happen? That they would shake hands and discuss the weather?

​I swallowed hard.

​"His lips..." Rola sighed dreamily as she flopped back against her pillows and stared up at the ceiling. "It was just as I imagined. It was so romantic."

​I sat heavily on the edge of my mattress, staring at her in confused silence. "Hmm..."

​Rola rolled onto her side, rested her chin in her hands, and beamed at me. "I was so nervous when I held the cake between my lips, but he didn’t hesitate at all. He cupped my face and kissed me so deeply."

​Something wasn’t adding up, and my brain came to an abrupt stop.

​"Wait." I sat straighter and stared at her with wide eyes. "You guys kissed? Not... sex?"

​Rola’s mouth fell open before she burst out laughing, her cheeks turning bright pink. "Sex? Rebecca!"

​"What?" I threw up my hands. "You came in here saying, ’We did it.’ What was I supposed to think?"

​She laughed even harder, falling backward against her pillows while I sat there staring at her in disbelief.

​A kiss. All this excitement was over a kiss.

​Then another thought hit me.

​"You’ve been dating for four months, and this was your first kiss?"

​"Yes," Rola answered as her laughter slowly faded and she sat up again.

​I couldn’t hide my surprise. Four whole months. Kaden had been dating this woman for four entire months, sending her gifts and calling her every single day, yet tonight was the first time he had kissed her on the lips.

​I didn’t know what to do with that information, so I decided to do absolutely nothing with it.

​Because it was none of my business.

​Rola lightly touched her fingers to her lips, and that dreamy expression returned. "But now that I’ve finally tasted him, Rebecca..." A mischievous smile spread across her face as she hugged the pillow tighter. "I want more. I want him to make love to me."

​My breath caught in my throat, but before I could even form a response, Rola continued, her eyes sparkling with determination.

​"Tomorrow," she announced. "Tomorrow, I’m going to hatch up a plan."

​"A plan?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

​"Yes." She smirked.

I stared at her in complete silence. Rola simply let out one last happy sigh, turned off her bedside lamp, and pulled the covers over her shoulders, completely unaware of the mess her words had created inside my head. Within minutes, her breathing became slow and even, but sleep didn’t come anywhere near me.

​I lay down on my own bed and pulled the blanket up to my chin, staring at the ceiling.

I tried not to picture Rola in Kaden’s bed tomorrow night. I tried not to imagine them together or think about what might happen if Kaden decided he was finally ready to take that next step with her. But the harder I tried to push the thought away, the more stubbornly it stayed in my head.

It shouldn’t matter. Kaden was free. Rola was his girlfriend, and I was the woman who had asked him to let me go. Those were the facts. I repeated them in my head over and over again, hoping they would somehow make the tight feeling in my chest disappear, but they didn’t.

I turned onto my side and squeezed my eyes shut. Three years ago, I had wanted nothing more than to be free of Kaden and everything that came with him. I had asked him to reject me, and he had accepted because that was what I wanted. Afterward, I had spent three years rebuilding my life, learning how to live without him and reaching a point where hearing his name no longer ruined my entire day.

And now, after only a few days of being around him again, I was lying awake because his girlfriend wanted to sleep with him.

It made no sense.

Or maybe it did, and that was the part I didn’t want to face.

For three years, staying away from Kaden had made it easy to believe that everything between us belonged in the past. I never had to see him with someone else. I never had to watch another woman make him smile or listen to her talk about kissing him. Most importantly, I never had to imagine another woman lying beside him in the bed that had once been ours.

Now I did.

And apparently, moving on was much easier when I didn’t have to watch him do it too.