Page 52 of Intrigue

The message cuts off.

Silence.

Cassian exhales and tilts his head back like he’s trying to catch his balance, like he’s reeling just as much as I am. Then, his hand drops, and his eyes meet mine.

And I know.

I know the exact second the betrayal takes root.

His eyes go dark. His lips curl. And when he speaks, his voice is quiet. Too quiet.

“Gosh. How could I have been so blind. That’s why you’ve been acting weird since we got back. It’s been going on even before we met, hasn’t it? You were fucking your brother?”

A single, sharp breath leaves me.

“It’s not like that...” My throat is sandpaper.

Cassian lets out a choked laugh, a sound so broken, so bitter, it slices through me worse than a scream. “That’s what you wanted me to believe, isn’t it? That he was like a brother to you? That’s what you’ve always told me. That’s what everyone says.” His nostrils flare, his whole body trembling. “And yet he’s here, spilling his fucking soul to you. Telling you he loves you. Telling you he’s coming for you.”

I shake my head. “Cassian, stop.”

“Oh, I think I finally get it.” He steps forward, close enough that I can feel his breath, his fury curling into the space between us like smoke. “All those years, all those fucking times I told myself I was imagining things. That you just weren’t the type tolove out loud. That it was nothing and you’d come around. But it only became worse when we got here.” His voice drops. “I bet you laughed at me, huh? While you were sneaking around with him? While you were in bed with me, you were thinking of him?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

Cassian’s face crumples, his hands trembling at his sides. “Then tell me what it was, Selene.”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.

Because I don’t have an answer.

Because how do I explain the mess inside me, the years of love and hate and longing so tangled I don’t even know where one feeling ends and another begins? How do I explain the ache that’s never left me, the way Sandro’s voice still has the power to unravel me, even now, even after everything?

Cassian watches me struggle. Watches the silence eat me alive.

And something inside him shatters.

His expression smooths, his fury slipping into something colder, something I haven’t even seen on him before. “You can’t, can you?” His voice is a whisper. “Because you still want him.”

“Cassian—”

“I should’ve known.” He sighs. “You were never really mine. You’re his, aren’t you? Always have been.”

“I—”

He moves before I can finish.

His hand flies, cracking against my cheek.

Pain explodes through my skull. And I stumble, vision blurring as my head hits the island’s edge.

The world spins.

I don’t even have time to react before the floor rushes up to meet me.

Then— everything goes black.

Chapter 16