Five Mates Let Me Burn, So I Rejected Them All novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Ronan on His Knees

The note was pushed under my door before dawn.

*Moon Temple. Alone. Please. R.*

I read it twice, put the cloth with the stone deep inside my mother's chest, and gave the key to the healer.

"If I'm not back by noon," I said, "give it to the priestess."

"You shouldn't go alone."

"He wrote please," I said. "Ronan Fitzalan has never written please in his life. I want to see what it looks like."

The temple was empty at that hour, with grey light coming through the high windows.

Ronan was kneeling in the middle of the floor.

It was the same square of marble where he had knelt before, and he had chosen it on purpose.

He wore no coat. His red hair was loose and unbrushed.

He did not look up when I came in.

"Stand if you like," I said. "I can hear you from there."

"I'll stay down."

"Suit yourself."

I stopped a few paces away, with my hands folded.

"The healer told me," Ronan said. "He came at midnight. He told me about the stone."

"Did he."

"I didn't believe him. I took it out on him." His mouth twisted. "Then I sat in my study until the candle burned out, going over every day since the bonding. I could remember all of them."

"That must be new."

"It's very new." His voice was rough. "For two years, there was a fog. And I was proud of how clear I thought I was."

"And now?"

"Now I'm remembering what I said in this room."

He raised his head.

His amber eyes were red-rimmed, and he had not slept.

"I said it to you on my knees," he said. "I knelt on this floor and told you to end it, or I'd take her to bed while you watched. I said it first, and I said it loudest, and I meant every word."

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