My Vampire Husband Regretted Divorcing Me, but It’s Too Late

I came from a human noble family that had long since fallen on hard times. Five years ago, I found a vampire in the forest, badly wounded by hunters and with no memory of who he was. Cassian and I fell in love. He said he would love me the same way for the rest of his life. Then hunters attacked again, and he took another bullet protecting me. When he woke in the hospital, every one of Cassian's memories had come back. He was the heir of the vampire prince, and he had a fiancee waiting for him. Overnight, the husband who had sworn to protect me forever began looking at me with distaste. I stood outside his hospital room and heard him say it. "Marrying that human was an accident. "I'll divorce her. The betrothal stands." He said that without the accident five years ago, I would never have been good enough for him. I had tried so hard to carry his child, and one miscarriage after another had wrecked my health. With his memory back, he had no tenderness left for me. He only said he would pay me off. I kept watch outside his room and begged him to think it over, and he would not even look at me. Then, at their engagement party, I watched with my own eyes as Cassian kissed someone else, tenderly, as though he could not get enough of her. When he passed me, his eyes held nothing but indifference. That was the moment I finally let go. Later I married someone else. And Cassian stood outside the chapel with red eyes and a shaking voice, saying he regretted it. 1 Elena's POV Cassian woke while I happened to be away. The doctors had just finished dressing his wound, and while he was still unconscious I went home to pack him a change of clothes. The call came from the hospital while I was at the house. Cassian himself had sent me nothing. He used to hate making me worry. Even stepping out while I was napping, he would leave a note first. Today my phone was silent, and I only knew he was awake because the hospital called. It puzzled me, but I didn't dwell on it. Maybe he was afraid I would rush back to him and be too upset to drive safely. When I got back to his floor and the elevator doors opened, the corridor was full of vampires I had never seen before. They had taken over the entire floor, watching everyone who passed with wary eyes. This was the edge of human territory. There was no reason for so many vampires to be here. Part of me found it strange and interesting. Part of me was uneasy. Cassian had never recovered his memory, and he rarely met his own kind in human territory. If he knew this many vampires had turned up, he might want to talk to them. Still, I couldn't help worrying. Ever since the hunters nearly killed him five years ago, Cassian had never been able to let his guard down. This many vampires appearing at once might draw more hunters, and then there would be no peace here for a long time. Yesterday Cassian and I had only gone out to the forest beyond town for a picnic. On the way back we ran into hunters. As a vampire's human wife, I was naturally treated as his accomplice and hunted down alongside him. But years of trying to carry his child, and miscarriage after miscarriage, had worn my body down. I could not move the way I used to. Cassian took a bullet for me. He lost consciousness soon after we reached the hospital. The doctors told me that if he got through the night he would be out of danger. So I sat outside his room all night and didn't dare close my eyes. It wasn't until morning, when the doctors said he was stable and told me to go home for his things, that I left, and I had been gone less than an hour. Now the hospital was suddenly full of vampires, and perhaps it wasn't safe for Cassian to stay here. I walked quickly toward his room to see how he was. Before I got there, I heard two nurses talking in low voices ahead of me. "They say the one in there is the vampire prince's heir." "Seriously?" "Everyone who just came in is a vampire noble. Apparently, the heir went missing five years ago. He woke up this morning with his memory back and contacted the Council of Elders right away." I stopped in my tracks. Went missing five years ago. Woke up this morning. Every detail matched my husband. I pulled out my phone without thinking. The screen was still empty. No missed call from Cassian. No message from him. He was awake. He had all his memories back. And I was not the first person he had reached for. Something in my chest went cold. The feeling had barely surfaced before I forced it back down. This was good news. Cassian finally knew who he was. When I first met him five years ago, his own name was the only thing he remembered. Where his home was, who his parents were, why hunters were after him, he knew none of it. I used to comfort him about it. It didn't matter if he never remembered. We were going to be together anyway. I would stay with him, as the person who loved him and as his family. Now his memory was back. And he had found his family again. Perhaps, in all the excitement, forgetting to call me was perfectly normal. I should be happy for him. Thinking that, I kept walking. Two strangers were standing outside his door. One of them put out an arm to stop me. "Miss, you can't go in." "I'm Cassian's wife." That clearly caught him off guard. His eyes moved over me for a moment and then slid away. "One moment." I stood there and watched him go in to announce me. In that instant an uneasiness I couldn't name came over me. Cassian and I had been married five years and had been inseparable the whole time. Last night I rode with the ambulance the entire way here. Now I had to be announced to see my own husband. The strangeness of it left me stiff. I had no idea whether Cassian had panicked when he woke and found me gone. I wanted to look inside, but the door was shut tight. Before long he came back out. "Lord Cassian is speaking with the Council of Elders. "You can go in later." Lord Cassian. I repeated the title to myself. So the name I had said so fondly for five years was supposed to have a title in front of it. I nodded and went back to the lounge next door. "All right." The things I had brought were still piled on a chair. His charger, the book he liked, and the clean shirt I had gone home that morning to fetch. I took the shirt out and folded it again, too restless to sit still, my mind running in every direction. My family had been human nobility once, but that had faded years ago. After my mother died, it was just my father and me, holding on to an old estate and a few small businesses that barely kept us going. I had never once thought about what kind of life Cassian had lived before he met me. And I had never imagined that someone so ragged, with nowhere in the world to go, carried a rank like this. The heir of the vampire prince. That had to be a world completely unlike mine, and I had no idea how he would balance our small home against his past. I shook my head and pushed the tangle of thoughts away. It didn't matter. As long as Cassian and I were together, we could face whatever came. I sat with the shirt in my arms for a while, then checked my phone. Still nothing. Cassian used to be so attached to me that even a short errand meant a stream of messages. Now it was as though he had forgotten I existed. After a while one of the guards at the door came to tell me I could go in. I got up at once. When I pushed the door open, Cassian was propped against the head of the bed. His face was still pale and there was a bandage around his shoulder. He was still in the hospital gown I had changed him into while he was unconscious, but the look on his face was one I didn't know. That cold expression was nothing like him. Cassian used to look at nothing but me the moment I appeared, always with that soft smile. "Elena." Hearing him say my name steadied me a little. I hurried over, meaning to sit on the edge of his bed. A bodyguard put out an arm and stopped me. I was his wife, and I had to stand awkwardly off to one side. It took me a moment to steady myself before I asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were awake? "I went home for a bit. My father has been worried about you too. "The doctors said your wound—" "It's fine now." Cassian cut me off. I faltered. The vampire sitting beside him glanced at me and stood. "I'll step out." Once the door closed, it was just the two of us. I set the bag down by the bed, nervous for reasons I couldn't explain. The way Cassian looked at me seemed to have changed overnight. He had never been this silent with me before, so I kept talking, my voice growing more strained with every word. "I brought you a change of clothes. "The doctors want to watch you a little longer. If there's nothing wrong you can go home soon." Cassian glanced down and didn't reach for it. "There's no need. Take all of it back. I don't need any of it." After he said it, his eyes went back to the shirt. His brow drew in slightly, and then he looked away. My hands stopped. The room was quiet for a few seconds. Cassian's voice had been perfectly calm. It still felt like something small and sharp had gone into my chest. I looked down at the shirt. I had given it to him for our anniversary last year. He had said it looked good when he opened it. When I straightened the collar for him, he had bent down on purpose to kiss me. Now he was telling me to take it away, saying he didn't need it, unwilling even to touch it. I put the shirt back in the bag. "All right. Then let your family arrange things for you for now." My voice came out tight. This was not how the two of us were supposed to be, and I did not want to be speaking to him this carefully. I had not slept all night and my head felt foggy, but I pulled myself together and produced a smile. "It is a bit old, I suppose. I only gave it to you last year. When you're discharged, I'll buy you a new one." The old Cassian would have laughed and snatched the shirt out of my hands, saying it wasn't old at all, saying that anything I gave him he would keep until it fell apart. Cassian looked at me, and something like reluctance crossed his face. He started to say something. Then there was a knock at the door. "Lord Cassian, the prince's people have arrived." Cassian looked away. "Understood." I stood up. "I'll leave you to it." I walked out of the room, but I didn't leave. There was too much I still wanted to ask him. Why he hadn't contacted me when he woke. Why he was so cold to me. And the betrothal the nurses had mentioned. The door hadn't shut all the way. A stranger's voice came through it. "Miss Seraphina has been waiting for you all this time." I stopped in my tracks. "You were missing for five years. His Highness never found you, and he never dissolved your betrothal to Miss Seraphina. "Now that your memory has returned, the original arrangement should resume as soon as possible." My hand tightened on the bag. Inside, there was a pause. Then I heard Cassian say, "Marrying that human was an accident." My fingers went rigid. Then he added, "I'll divorce her. The betrothal stands." 2 Elena's POV I stood outside the door. Every part of me went cold at once. The husband who had sworn to love me all his life and to always be gentle with me was saying he would divorce me. Only because his memory had come back. I was so cold I almost believed I had misheard. Then what were the five years we had spent side by side every day? I didn't know how long I stood there. A memory from a long time ago surfaced. We had not been together long back then. I loved sneaking up and hugging him from behind. Cassian was a vampire, with far sharper senses than a human. So I never once succeeded. One time I took off my shoes, went around through the hallway, and crept up behind him. I had barely reached out before he turned and caught me in his arms. I smacked his shoulder in frustration. "Did you peek?" "No." "Then how did you know again?" Cassian looked down at me and smiled. "If you're anywhere near me, I can feel you." "What if I'm in the next room, with a wall between us?" "Of course I'd still know." I pretended to be annoyed and swung my legs, trying to get down from his arms. "So I'm never going to be able to startle you? Ever?" He held me a little tighter. "Never. "Whenever it is, wherever you are, I will always be able to feel you." And now. I was standing right outside his door. A few steps away from him. Cassian had to know I hadn't gone far. Which meant he had made no attempt to keep those two sentences from me. He had said them for me to hear. I looked down. A corner of the pale grey shirt showed at the top of the bag. My nose stung all at once. Maybe it was because his memory had only just come back. Maybe his family was putting enormous pressure on him. Maybe there was more behind that betrothal than I knew. Five years. We had been together five whole years. I knew he had loved me. None of that could simply disappear because he got his memory back. I stood outside the door for a long time. I waited for the people inside to leave, and they looked me over strangely as they went. In the end I took a deep breath and forced the tears back. ... By the time I pushed the door open, nothing showed on my face. Cassian was bent over a document. At the sound he glanced up at me. I went to the bed. Everything I had prepared out in the corridor tangled itself into a knot in my head. In the end, I could only ask in a daze, "Cassian, when you're discharged, we're still going home together, aren't we?" Cassian looked at me. The smile I had forced onto my lips was about to fall apart. The scar on my stomach ached faintly. Three years ago, I carried his child. A union between a human and a vampire is difficult to begin with, and my baby made it to eight months but never got to see the world. Cassian had held me then and said that even without a child, no matter what, we would be a family. All he had to do now was nod, and I would forget everything I had just heard. I would convince myself that he hadn't said it for me to hear. Instead, he visibly went quiet. Then he shook his head. "Elena, you must have heard it just now. My memory is back, so I am divorcing you." There was nothing on his face but a detached calm as he said it. I was the only one frozen, stubbornly holding up the corners of my mouth, my face caught somewhere between a smile and tears. "I know you're in a difficult position. You're lying to me, aren't you?" I tried to keep my voice steady. "Your memory comes back and the prince immediately sends all these people. Does the betrothal involve your family's interests, so you have to agree to it for now?" The more I said it, the more reasonable the explanation sounded to me. "It's all right. "I can wait while you sort things out at home." "Elena." Cassian said my name. I fell silent. "No one is forcing me to honor the betrothal, and I am not lying to you." He leaned back against the headboard, his face expressionless and his eyes indifferent. "The betrothal was arranged when I was a child. "Seraphina's family and mine settled it a long time ago." My fingers closed hard around the handles of the bag. "But you're already married. To me." I was talking faster, the words coming out in the wrong order. "We've been married five years, and we've been happy the whole time." Five years of love overturned and wiped away in a single night. I couldn't accept it. I stared into Cassian's eyes, trying to find one trace of the tenderness I knew. His gaze stayed perfectly level. He was almost looking at me the way you would look at someone unhinged, with a kind of weary patience. "I know. But my memory is back, and everything should return to the way it was meant to be." That calm hurt worse than standing outside the door had. I would rather he had told me he had forgotten the five years. At least then I could lie to myself that too much of his past had come back at once and he had temporarily forgotten how to love me. But he remembered everything. He remembered that we were married. He remembered every day he had lived with me. And he could still sit here this calmly and say, without a flicker, that he was divorcing me, that he was going back to honor the old betrothal, that he was returning to the way things were meant to be. I held the smile up, not wanting to fall apart in front of him, but my voice was shaking. "Cassian. "Yesterday, before you lost consciousness, you said that once you healed, we'd go to that bakery together. "You said that for our anniversary this year you didn't want anything, you just wanted to stay home with me all day. "Do you remember any of that?" He nodded without much interest. "I remember." My eyes burned. "Then why don't you want me anymore?" Cassian's brow drew in a little. Almost on instinct I reached out, wanting to touch his face and kiss him the way I always had. My hand had barely lifted before he turned his head aside. My hand froze in the air. The face was exactly the same as my loving husband's, yet the man behind it would never look at me tenderly again. 3 Elena's POV The first time I saw Cassian, five years ago, he was lying under a tree at the edge of the forest. That tall body was curled up in the shade. My father and I were coming back from town that day. The car broke down partway, so we had to walk to the estate along the side road. I smelled blood, looked into the grass, and found him. His clothes were nearly soaked through with it. At first my father refused to take him home. Our family had been in decline for years. After my mother died there were only the two of us. We couldn't even afford to keep servants at the estate. If this vampire brought trouble with him, we had no way to handle it. Cassian couldn't even stand back then. But I begged my father until he brought him back. When he woke, he remembered his name and nothing else. I smiled and reassured him, "It's all right. You can stay at our house and heal. "Once you're better, you can take your time remembering." That stay lasted five years. In the beginning Cassian was wary of everyone. Apart from changing his dressings, he barely let me near him. Then, little by little, he began to talk with me after I finished. One day he even told me that with me beside him the wounds hurt less, that he felt calm, that he felt safe. That was the first time he smiled at me. Once he could get out of bed, he started helping my father with the estate, which had gone years without repair. The roof leaked, and he climbed up and fixed it. The kitchen cabinet door broke, and he nailed it back together. He would be working in the yard, and I would stand beside him complaining that I was tired and asking him to give me a piggyback ride home. Cassian would call me spoiled and then crouch down anyway. My father caught us at it once and snapped, "His wounds have only just healed. Can't you walk on your own?" I laughed against Cassian's back. Cassian said in my defense, "It's fine. I'm better now." It never once occurred to me then that one day his memory would come back, and he would shut me out this coldly. He was the one who said he liked me first, and the one who proposed. We couldn't afford anything valuable. Just a plain ring we picked out in a little shop, and an ordinary, happy life together. I wore it for five full years. It was still on my hand. I looked down at the ring. Cassian followed my eyes, and for an instant he went still. I seized on that flash of hope. "Do you remember saying you'd spend your whole life with me?" I lowered my head trying to catch his eyes, and he kept avoiding mine. "Have you forgotten all of it?" I could never have imagined being this desperate and this graceless in front of the person who had loved me so much. He lowered his eyes for a moment. "No." "Then why are you still divorcing me?" My voice had started to shake. Cassian was silent for a few seconds. "I didn't know who I was then. That's why I made such a careless promise to you. "If I caused you to misunderstand, I can apologize." A misunderstanding... Five years of loving each other, three miscarriages I went through for him, and all of it was a misunderstanding? A bitter smile pulled at my mouth and I cut him off. "You got your memory back. You didn't turn into a different person. I still love you, Cassian. You love me too, don't you?" The room went quiet. I stared at him, my eyes pleading, and waited a long time. Cassian finally looked away. "Elena, I know this is hard for you." My heart ached sharply. He had dodged the question. He hadn't answered it. All those promises full of love were still echoing in my ears, and the person in front of me felt like a stranger. "Cassian, I don't care who you are. "Whether you're the prince's heir or you have nothing at all, the one I love has always been you." His fingers stiffened inside my palm. "We can work something out together. "If the betrothal matters that much, I'll go with you to explain. We can face it together." Cassian pulled his hand back. My voice cut off. My palm was suddenly empty. He looked at me, and there was a hesitation in his eyes that I knew. But the look I clung to was gone in a breath, replaced by a calm indifference that put ice down my spine. "Don't do this. No matter how much you plead, I can't go back to what we were." The tears finally came. "What am I doing?" Cassian didn't answer. I wiped my face. "I just want to keep living with my husband. "Is that not allowed either?" His frown deepened. I held on anyway, wanting so badly for him to pull me in and comfort me the way he used to, and tell me none of it was true. All I ever had to do was cry and he would soften. Even in a fight, the moment my eyes went red he would be the one to give in. This time he stayed where he was. He didn't come any closer. After a long silence, he said, "In a few days I'll have a gift of thanks sent to your house." I stared at him. "You're not coming home with me?" "No." "My father is still waiting for you." "Thank him for me." He was so polite about it. As if five years of daily life could be closed out with a polite thank-you and a gift, wiped clean, gone without a trace. My chest ached, my eyes stung, and I couldn't get a single accusation out. Cassian pressed his lips together. "Elena, let's get divorced." I looked at him and still would not agree. "Cassian, I'm going to wait until you've thought it through." He said nothing. "Your memory only just came back. I'll give you time." I was crying and I made myself smile. "When you've made up your mind, we'll talk again." I gathered the bag of old clothes against my chest and turned and left, almost fleeing. At the door I looked back at him once. Cassian was still sitting on the bed. He didn't call me back. The door closed. I walked a long way and never once heard footsteps behind me. 4 Elena's POV When I got home, my father was sitting in the living room waiting for me. "How is Cassian?" "He's awake." I bent to take off my shoes and tried to keep my voice ordinary. "The doctors say there's nothing seriously wrong." My father was quiet for a moment, then asked me straight out, "He's got his memory back?" My hands stopped. I didn't know how to answer. "Someone came asking me about it this afternoon." He sighed. "News like that always travels fast, Elena. Don't try to keep it from me." I said nothing. He looked at me and said more gently, "They say he's the vampire prince's heir." "He is." "And they say Cassian is divorcing you to honor a betrothal that was arranged years ago." My hand tightened on the bag. "His memory only just came back. He hasn't thought it through." My father didn't answer. I continued, "Once he's calmer, we'll talk again." He looked at me in silence for a long while. "Elena." I knew what he wanted to say. Our family had come down in the world, and no one knew better than we did how fast people turn. A friend who was inseparable from you yesterday can betray you today without a second thought, simply because your standing has slipped and your money has shrunk. But I believed Cassian was not that kind of person. And he ought to know that my father and I would never chase after power, let alone covet his money and his rank. We had come through the hardest years together. We had faced empty pockets and a leaking roof, yet we laughed and bickered our way through every problem without ever letting go of each other's hand. I never minded that he had nothing and came from nowhere, and he had never minded that my family was poor. We had lived a simple, happy life together. I refused to believe that we could share the hard times and not the good ones. He simply hadn't thought it through. Perhaps getting all his memories back at once had left him rattled. "Dad, I'm tired today." I lowered my head. "Can it wait until tomorrow?" I didn't want to hear it. And I couldn't have taken it in. Cassian and I had been together five years. Right up until the accident, he was still the husband who loved me that much. I could not accept that his memory coming back meant he could suddenly divorce me and go marry someone else. That night I turned over and over in bed and finally sent Cassian a message. "Does the wound still hurt? Is it any better?" It was marked as read almost immediately. I stared at the screen for a long time. No reply. I sent another one. "Is the hospital bed too hard? Can you sleep on it?" Read, and no answer. I waited until nearly midnight and the phone never lit up. The first thing I did when I woke was open the chat. Nothing. Every message read. Not one answered. I sat on the edge of the bed scrolling back through our old messages again and again. Cassian never used to make me wait like that. Even if I only asked offhand what he was doing, he would answer. Now the thread held nothing but my own messages. It hurt badly, and I still couldn't stop comforting myself. At least he hadn't deleted me. He had to be busy, I told myself. Five years away from the vampire world, and his memory back all at once. His family must have a mountain of things waiting for him. On the fifth day I went to the hospital. I didn't tell Cassian first. When I reached his floor the bodyguards recognized me and didn't stop me. They still looked at me with contempt and a kind of condescending pity. Since our family fell, I had lost count of how many people had looked at my father and me that way. I had never cared before. Facing the same thing now, I was far more fragile. Cassian and I had loved each other through five years, and I had grown used to leaning on him. When I first found him he had nothing and nowhere to go, and I never held it against him. And now the humiliation and the contempt I was carrying came from him. Before I went in, I smoothed my dress without thinking. There were more people at the hospital every day. Almost everyone visiting Cassian was a vampire noble. They were exquisitely dressed, with attendants and bodyguards at their sides. I stood among them, knowing they all thought I refused to let go and that Cassian would be cold to me, yet I had come anyway. The bitterness made me sick. I looked down at the thermos in my hand. There was soup in it that I had made that morning. Whenever Cassian was unwell, I used to make it for him. His room had become a luxurious private suite at some point. New furniture stood by the bed, and expensive flowers and gifts covered the table. Cassian was on the sofa, talking with a man. He stopped when he saw me. His visitor followed his gaze. "And this is?" Before Cassian could speak, I smiled. "I'm Elena. Cassian's wife." Cassian's brow drew in slightly at that. It stung, and I held on to my composure. His visitor looked me up and down. It was not a comfortable look. I waited until he had gone before I went over. "Are you feeling better today?" "Yes." Cassian answered flatly, with no interest in talking to me. But faced with that familiar face, I could not let go of hope. I set the thermos on the table. "I brought you some soup. "You always used to love the soup I made when you were ill." "No need." He didn't even look at it. "There are professional cooks here for that." My fingertips pressed together. "All right." I smiled. "I'll take it home for my father then." Cassian said nothing. I saw the glass beside him was empty and picked it up. "Let me get you some water." "Don't. I don't need you taking care of me anymore. You don't have to do any of this." I had just reached the water cooler when his voice caught me. My hand tightened on the glass. I knew what the other half of that sentence was. Nothing I did for him was going to change his mind. After a few seconds I put the glass back where it had been. "All right. "I won't touch anything." Cassian glanced at me. I knew my smile must look forced. But I didn't want him thinking I was making a scene again. He was busy enough as it was. All I wanted was to sit with him a while, the way I used to. "The flowers in the yard opened yesterday. Do you want me to bring some in so you can see them?" "No. I don't like flowers." The words caught in my throat. He had planted those flowers himself, and a few months ago he had been looking forward to the day they bloomed. Five years is a brief flicker to a vampire. To me it was a large piece of my life. While he had no memory, the difference was easy to forget. Now it was laid out in front of us, and I was the only one still refusing to concede. At the very least I wanted to fight for one last chance for the two of us. At the very least I wanted him to think it over properly. Even if he ended by admitting he no longer loved me, I would leave willingly. But laying out facts and reasons this coldly, telling me to stop clinging, telling me we had to divorce. That was too cruel and too unfair. "It rained last night. Lucky we patched that broken skylight when we did." "Oh. Right." I kept hunting for things to say. Cassian's answers only got shorter. We had never been like this. Even sitting together in silence had never felt awkward. Now I felt like a visitor calling on a stranger. After a while the door opened again. A woman came in. She wore a deep red gown, her long golden hair falling behind her shoulders. Two attendants followed her. I knew who she was almost at once. Seraphina. She was more beautiful and more elegant than I had pictured. Her eyes went to Cassian first. "Sorry, Cassian. I'm late." Something in Cassian's expression finally eased. "It's fine." His voice was gentler than it had been with me. Only then did Seraphina look at me. "And this is?" I stood, keeping a polite smile. "I'm Elena. Cassian's wife." Saying it steadied me for a moment. At least for now, I was still his wife. And then. Cassian added evenly, "Don't misunderstand, Seraphina. "We'll be divorced shortly." My face went hot. Grief and pain and shame all rose at once, and I stood there wanting the floor to open up. She smiled at that, her eyes going over me again, measuring. "I see." I forced the corners of my mouth up. "I'll let you talk. "I won't get in the way." I bent and picked up the thermos. My fingers wouldn't quite obey and I nearly knocked over the vase beside it. I caught it in time. "Sorry." They watched me leave in silence, and I didn't dare look back to see whether they were laughing at me. I couldn't bear to see Cassian—the man who had once loved and cared for me—look at me with open contempt. I wasn't ready to carry that. I was afraid that something that small would make me give up on our love. I carried my things out. Passing the doorway, I couldn't help pausing for a second. Cassian didn't call after me. So I kept walking. The door swung slowly shut behind me. Just before it closed, I heard Cassian say, "Sorry to keep you waiting." That gentleness in it brought back everything we used to be. It had only been a few days and everything had changed. My steps went unsteady. The corridor was still full of bodyguards and attendants. All of them watching me. I didn't dare cry. I kept my chin up and kept walking. Not until I turned into the stairwell did I close the door behind me. There was finally no one around. I put my back against the wall and slid down into a crouch. The tears came at once. I clamped a hand over my mouth so no sound would get out. I set the thermos down on the floor. I looked down at the plain copper ring on my finger. Cassian had put it there himself five years ago. He had no status and no money then. He held my hand and asked whether I would marry him. I looked into his eyes and said yes, smiling. He said he would love me the same way for the rest of his life. I gripped the ring hard. It bit into my palm. I didn't let go. Because by now. It was the only proof left. That Cassian had once really loved me.