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She has my loyalty and friendship for the rest of her life for how happy she makes Cian.
He pulls back and gives me a huge grin. “Thank you for helping get her here.”
I tip my head slightly. “You know I will always be there for her just like I am for you.”
They’re a package deal now. I’m more than Cian’s best friend. I am his bodyguard. His right-hand man truly. And have been for the past twelve years. He was really only a job for about two months before I realized I’d found the best friend I was ever going to have.
We’ve grown up together in so many ways. He was seventeen and I was twenty when we met, but we were both lost, needing purpose, wanting to experience life, and the world differently than we had in the past. We did that together. We’ve traveled, studied, made mistakes, had adventures, and had a hell of a good time.
I’m so happy that Scarlett is in his life now. She’s so good for him. I couldn’t have chosen a better partner for him.
But him finding her, truly falling in love, deciding to spend his life with her, has left me feeling strangely restless. We are entering an entirely new chapter. For over a decade I’ve been the closest person to Cian O’Grady. I’ve been his first phone call, theone he asks for advice and for help. I’ve been the most important person to him.
That’s changed.
His happiness has always been my second priority, only behind his safety and health. Yes, there have been occasions where I’ve had to choose safe and angry off over happy but in danger. But I am no longer the only person in charge of keeping him happy. Scarlett is his number one now.
That’s going to take some adjusting to.
I glance over at Ruby. I know she’s feeling the same.
She has been that person for Scarlett their entire lives. More than just keeping Scarlett company or being the one she asks for advice or shares secrets with, Ruby helped Scarlett navigate a very toxic relationship with their biological father, and raise Scarlett’s daughter, Mariah.
They are incredibly tight. She has to be feeling happiness and love for Cian for making Scarlett so happy, along with a strange sense of loss and restlessness at this change in her life and role.
We’re quickly surrounded by more friends and family, and I let Cian and Scarlett get swept into the crowd. But my eyes are on the beautiful brunette in jade green, not the one in white.
And ten minutes later, when Ruby tries to slip away, I follow her.
They’ve been here for three days. She’s beenavoiding mefor three days. With the chaos of the entire O’Grady family here for the first time in years, the eldest brother Declan spontaneously marrying family friend Astrid Olsen, and wedding plans for Cian and Scarlett, along with her and Scarlett’s mother flying in, it’s been easy for Ruby to come up with excuse after excuse not to see me despite my many texts.
Until now.
I slip through the heavy door before it closes behind her and she’s only taken three steps down the main hallway when I wrapmy arm around her waist, my other hand covering her mouth. I lift her off her feet, taking us down the short hallway to our left.
I put my mouth to her ear. “We need to talk, Gem.” I don’t mean to use the nickname. It just slips out.
She doesn’t fight me. She doesn’t even squirm. She sighs heavily, not seeming surprised that it’s me. Or that I’m man-handling her.
I have to uncover her mouth to open the door at the end of the short hallway but she doesn’t say a word as I stride inside, kick the door shut, and turn the lock before setting her down.
“Is this the dungeon?” she finally asks once her feet touch the floor.
“Don’t be ridiculous. The dungeon is two stories down.” I flip the switch next to the door and sconces around the room come on, illuminating the cozy space with a soft, golden glow.
She looks around. The room is an inner, somewhat secret private space. There are no windows and while everyone in the palace is aware of the room, no one actually uses it.
“I would have expected the library to be bigger,” she muses, taking in the floor to ceiling bookshelves along three of the walls, the overstuffed armchair and ottoman, the oak side table holding a lamp with a stained-glass lampshade, and the small writing desk just to our left.
“The palace library is much larger,” I tell her. “This was the private sitting room of the king’s friend and advisor, Oisin O’Connor. He’s moved to the United States now, so this room doesn’t get much use. But it still stores his private book collection.”
She paces a few steps away, runs her fingers over a few book spines, then turns to face me. She crosses her arms. “Okay, so I am locked in a room that no one comes to. I guess you’re finally going to get your way and we’re going to talk.”
“I always get my way.” I tuck my hands into the pockets of my trousers. “And we were always going to talk. Things aren’t over between us.”
Emotions, including sadness, pass over her face. Then she says, “Thingsareover, Henry. They’ve been over.”
“I love you,” I say simply.