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“She told me she thought she loved a boy once, and that he died. That now she knows she never loved him at all.” My words are like knives driving into his heart, but it’s also a test. I can see the truth. It’s him. A heavy silence follows, and the crickets fill it with their chirping.

“What is it that you hope to achieve here, Aedonaeus? If you want to cause me pain, you can’t possibly cause me more than I have caused myself.” He yanks on his hair, flustered and depressed. I’ve never noticed it before, but there’s a sadness pervading him.

“I want you to stay away from her.”

“Oh, like you did? I've been protecting her. Somehow, you’ve managed to fuck that up just like you do everything else.” He inhales. “You brought her here.”

“She doesn’t need your protection.”

“Someone has to think about her,” he argues.

I scoff. “And you think I don’t?”

“You only want her because she’s an enigma. You don’t know the first thing about her. I’m sure all the women you sleep with behind her back—”

“I don’t sleep with any women,” I growl. “Josie is my wife.”

“You don’t love her.” He laughs, but he doesn’t believe it.

“What exactly do you think love is, Killian? Do you think it’s leaving the woman you love to suffer alone?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re a coward. Just admit it.”

“They were going to take her,” his voice cracks. “I couldn’t let them. If I stayed, she was going to die. It’s the only thing I have ever done right.”

We haven’t discussed the murder of Kate, and the death of what is now presumed to be Killian in detail. Not really. A frustrating conversation is coming because it would seem this groveling asshole knows more about her than I do.

I’m starting to feel sorry for him. Anyone who ever knows Josie in the capacity of love could never get over her. They’re cursed. He has spent his time pandering after Josie while gallivanting around with another woman. We may have something in common after all, except I tried to find Josie, and I couldn’t. I didn’t know how I felt about her. I may feel sorry for him, but it doesn’t change the fact that Josie is mine, not his.

“I always knew you were an idiot, but you’re dense and selfish.” I fist my hands in my pockets.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” He stares at the ground. These sneering interludes I have with Killian are usually surface level. He certainly never admits he’s wrong.

“We thank you for your dedicated protection, but I’ve got it from here on out. You can relieve yourself of that duty.”

He shakes his head. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with. Do you think I like Eris?”

I’ve never given it much thought. Killian’s private life doesn’t concern me. It’s his insertion into mine and Josie’s that's the problem, but I would like to see where this goes. I’m in a unique position to collect information, and I don’t even have to beat it out of him.

“You’re telling me that you don’t love your betrothed?”

“Shut up. Who could?”

“Maybe I should speak with her then. Let her know your heart just isn’t in it,” I threaten.

“If you do that, I can’t stop her. As far as Eris thinks in her mental game of chess, Jo is a pawn. Josie is just some girl in the way, but that won’t last much longer. It doesn’t take an idiot to see her skin.”

“And what is Josie, actually?”

“A grenade without a plug.”

“I’m getting tired of this, Killian,” I warn, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Aren’t you listening? Are you so self-absorbed that you don’t see it?” I wait patiently for him to explain himself. “Oh, dear old dad never told you.”

My father? What does he have to do with this? Killian laughs with a bark, sharp and condescending. “It would seem you are just a pawn, too. How fitting.”