You Are Not Rejecting Me novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: Three Hands
Three hundred people looked at me, and I let them.
"I said it," I said again. "Seren is telling the truth about that."
Owain's face went soft and sorry.
"Thank you for your honesty, Nia."
"I'm not done."
I kept my hand in Idris's, and I walked three steps into the open circle.
The torches hissed.
"Two years ago I stood at the edge of the pond, and I told my sister I only ran because she did," I said.
"I was twenty-five. I had never gone anywhere she didn't go first."
Somebody in the ring coughed.
"I ran because she did," I said. "I stopped because he was standing at the trees."
I turned and looked at Idris.
"I'm not rejecting my mate. I haven't, and I won't. Whatever my sister says tonight, I do not reject Idris Garland."
Nobody spoke.
Then a woman near the front, a big gray-haired woman I'd bought eggs from, said, "Well, that's plain."
A few people laughed, low and relieved.
Owain's smile stayed where it was.
"That's a lovely thing to say," he said. "But the moon doesn't count lovely things. Cadell's mate has left him, and he has a photograph of himself with another woman to answer for."
"It isn't her hand," Marigold said.
She had come in at the back of the ring, in her barn coat, with straw on her boots.
The ring opened for her as she walked.
She stopped in front of Owain and held up her right hand, with the fingers spread.
"Look at it."
Her ring finger bent away from the others at the middle knuckle.
"A mare kicked it when I was nineteen. It's never been straight since."
She turned and held up a printed page for everyone to see.
Keep reading free with an account. Start You Are Not Rejecting Me from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend