Running from His Claim (Beauty and the Beast #2)

Chapter 53

I dropped my eyes, taking it in. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because you know me," he responded instantly. "You may not agree with my actions but you understand my motivations."

It did sound so very him - having to hurt me to protect me.

"You called me that Saturday," I said softly, deflecting the issue for a little longer. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was desperate to hear your voice." Softness eked into his flat voice. "But then...there were no words, my love. Nothing would have sufficed. And then you said you loved me...and I was searching for the strength to leave you. Spending the day with you that Monday was heavily contested but I had to hold you, kiss you...assure myself that I would find my way back to you."

"You were kissing someone else the very next day," I managed, tears pricking as I remembered the pain and humiliation of that moment.

"That was calculated and timed to perfection," he said flatly. "You do not know how excruciating it was to simply stand idle that night while Caitlin tore our world apart, while she shredded your heart and mine with blatant lies. That  relationship was only ever meant to be a temporary measure, a distraction while we devised the finest strategy against the edict." He sighed again, sounding tired but grim. "And now I have destroyed Caitlin and declared war on the Consulate."

What?

As he spoke, something finally clicked in my head. All this time he'd been adamant about only lying to me once. And as he spoke now, I realised that he was right. "You really have only lied to me once, haven't you?" I said softly.

He raised haunted eyes to me and I had to gulp in the face of his pain. But it was true, there was only one time when his words and actions were nothing like the Warren I knew.

"It's that night, when you confirmed Caitlin's story," I went on. If that one issue was removed from the equation, everything else before and since then was Warren running true to form. This was the lie, and believing it tainted my view of everything else. I believed the one thing I shouldn't have, and disbelieved everything else.

He didn't respond but his intense gaze was answer enough. Tears suddenly filled my eyes as the enormity of this truth finally hit me.

"Oh, you idiot!" I threw myself on him, my arms tight around his neck in a desperate bid to comfort him, and his own came around me instantly, catching me, holding me close. "You marvelous, loyal, unbelievable idiot! How could you do this? How could you try to face this alone?"

He exhaled and held me even tighter, burying his face in my neck. "You believe me. Thank you."

"Of course I believe you," I said, my tears soaking his shoulder. "I'm so sorry! I should've figured it out sooner!"

"Hush, love, do not weep," he murmured softly. "The lie, the act, was designed specifically to deceive you."

"You broke your promise," I said, sobbing now. "You broke your word!" I drew back, accusing him to his face. "You promised to let me stand at your side and face every threat with you."

"That was before the threat was my rulers and you their specific target! An enemy I would have torn to shreds with no thought, but the Consulate!" He drew a deep breath, held me tighter. "I was attempting to maintain cordial relations while searching for a loophole. However, the time for that is past."

"Can you really do that?" I asked softly. "Fight them?"

"I am eager to discover the truth of that."

I sat back on my heels, wiping my tears away. "Okay, so what do we do now?"

He pulled me into his arms again with a growl. "No." His voice was implacable. "No, Annabelle. You will not place yourself in danger, I will not let you. It is the Consulate I face now, and I will not risk your life."