Chapter 247

Her throat raw, she nodded. I believed in the sanctity of it once, yes. My father... I never knew my mother, and I always used to get this sense that a part of him was gone with her. He loved me, but his heart...it was with her. When you grow up seeing love like that, you believe in its power. You start hoping for it even when you know... She shrugged, loath to betray herself even more.

"I’m sorry for ruining your dreams, Kassandra," he said with such withdrawal that it was Kassandra who held onto him this time. "You were a dangerous combination of recklessness and... I had to protect you from fortune hunters and—"

"Myself, of course." But there was no real bite to her words.

She could not lie and absolve him of any of it. Despite wanting to hate him, she even understood why he had done it, but his apology touched something inside her. I wanted a lot of things. But life happened. I’ll be fine, Darian. "

He nodded and rose to his feet. "What will your collection be called?"

"New beginn