Page 127 of The Oath We Give

“You’re not gonna break him, ya know?” She arches an eyebrow like she can see through me, “I don’t know Silas the way the Rook or the other guys do, but I know him well enough. Enough to know that he doesn’t just go around touching people. He’s known Rook since they were kids, and I’ve seen them hug maybe twice? Yet, he can’t seem to keep his hands off you.”

Maybe it’s because I’d gotten comfortable with how often Silas touches me that I hadn’t noticed him doing it. The casual hand on my hip as he passed behind me, the arm slung around my shoulder, randomly tucking my hair behind my ear.

It feels like something we do often. It’s not something we struggle to do for the public eye because it’s just kinda… us?

“Isn’t this awkward for you?” I say, trying to get the attention off me, motioning around us. “Talking about this with me, here.”

“No,” she says softly, brushing her fingers across the top of her sister’s grave. “I made a promise. A few years ago, after my dad was killed—”

“I thought the fire he got caught in was an accident?”

Sage drags her tongue across the front of her teeth. “You met my boyfriend?”

Good point.

Rook Van Doren and fire? Never an accident.

It’s nice to know I’m not the only one with buried secrets. Comforting. I don’t need to know the details, because they don’t matter. It’s just nice not being so alone.

“It was to Rose. She’d already died, and when our father was buried, I swore that no matter what, I wouldn’t let Silas die a sad man. I swore I’d make sure he was happy. So no, it’s not awkward because I can see what you could be for him, what he could be for you.”

I swallow the knot in my throat.

Could I tell her? That the reason I’m scared is that I’m actually fucking cursed and it’s not just a nickname, no matter how badly I wish it was?

“I hope you don’t think I’m trying to replace Rosemary by being in this arrangement with him. I’d never do that to him or any of you. I know how important she was. I respect the love he has for her. The love you all have for her.”

Which is all true.

I don’t want anyone to think I’m disrespecting her memory. I know how important she is to all of them, especially Silas.

“You’re not replacing her, Coraline. We don’t see you that way. Neither does Silas. You can’t replace what they had because what you share is completely different,” she says, looking over at me. “I like you, Coraline. I get you. I was you. And I can’t think of a better way for Silas to honor my sister’s memory than by falling in love again. It’s all she’d ever want for him.”

Book made for [email protected]

THIRTY

HERE COMES THE BRIDE

SILAS

“Come in,”I grunt, already feeling a headache throbbing in my temples.

The door swings open, and the last person I want to deal with today waltzes inside. “Glad I could catch you before you left today, boss.”

I refrain from throwing the stapler on my desk at his head. Daniel doesn’t say boss with respect. It’s a dig, his passive-aggressive way of trying to remind me I’ll never be my father. That I’ll never live up to his legacy in this company.

I lean forward, shutting my laptop as he walks further inside, taking a seat on the metal chair in front of my desk. He reaches forward, sliding a stack of papers to me.

I glance down at them but don’t actually read them before I speak.

“What am I looking at, Daniel?”

“Our new endpoint security benefits and value propositions,” he says, proud of himself for doing the bare minimum. “I know you—”

“It told you the development wasn’t finished with the software,” I interrupt him, my irritation with Stephen and Daniel blending together. I grab the papers, tossing them at his chest. “Get this off my fucking desk. If sales does not have the new marketing materials for the next-generation firewalls by tonight, don’t bother coming into the office tomorrow.”

He pales, sputtering, “You can’t fire me!”