𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐄𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐬 (Book Two)

13. Double Standards

Isabella

Rhys had gone completely still. Even the gentle breeze suddenly died. For a moment it was suffocating, a heady hot weight of stale air and tension. Distanly, Isabella wondered if Rhys knew how quickly that prenatural stillness revealed his fae blood. If he was aware of alien and foreign that frozen state was to her.

All at once he seemed to come back to life, fast enough to give her whiplash even as his shoulders relaxed and a concerned expression drifted onto his face. She knew it was another of his masks, though this time she didn't mind. She was certainly in no position to judge considering what she had just revealed. What she had just asked him to forget about.

It looks like Rhys is about to say something but his hesitation has Isabella tensing. Her shoulders had hunched in such a way that Rhys frowned. Slowly he raised a hand, his focus solely on her as he gently rubbed at the junction between her neck and shoulder. A gentle sigh fell from her lips as Isabella sagged into his touch.

"I should have called for you." She whispered, eyes drifting shut as she rested her head against Rhys' chest. He lets her hide there, no doubt understanding her inability to look at him at this moment. "I don't know why I didn't."

Rhys hummed and the sound rumbled through her body. It was nearly similar to the way Cassian would purr for her son. Something he rarely did but Isabella remembered the sound clearly. Rhys' sounded more broken, certainly more of a throaty hum than an actual purr. She wondered if it was the Illyrian blood that caused such a noise and not the fae.

They were so different from her, this whole world was so different.

"Everything has changed." She whispered, focusing on the way Rhys carded a hand through her hair. "I thought I would have adjusted to it by now."

"You've adapted incredibly well," Rhys murmured, voice low and soft. "Better than we had expected or hoped. It's no easy feat what you've done."

"They were all good changes."

"They were still changed, still something new for you to learn about and accept." Rhys countered. "You left an entire life behind."

Isabella sniffled, feeling the tears she had held back rise to the surface.

"It's okay to miss it." Isabella shuddered at his words, pressure building behind her eyes. "It's– it's okay to miss Tomas too."

She crushes herself against him, curling into her mate as if she can hide from the world and shame.

He lets her cry and holds her tighter with every sob. Her chest begins to ache with every breath. A sharp pain at the bottom of her ribcage that tightens and stabs. She lets it overwhelm her, choking off the air and scratching her throat. Rhys shifts and Isabella tightens her grip on him, nails all but claws as she digs into his flesh.

It's like she's been plunged underwater. Or as if a fog has descended upon her mind. It takes a while for such a thing to clear. When it does she remains curled against her mate, sitting in his lap like Oliver sits with her after a nightmare. Rhys is still stroking along her hair and down her back. Isabella takes a moment to just focus on the heat of his palm, her eyes still shut as she hides from what feels like a dim light.

Rhys keeps a light pressure as he strokes along her spine, each move purposeful and slow, grounding her to the moment. He doesn't speak, only quietly hums again in what Isabella is now sure to be a repressed purr. The thought of that noise has her own tongue flexing, picturing making a sound but only finding her throat sore and dry. The salty taste of her tears is barely more than a subtle tang against the stale of her mouth.

She sighs, shifting slightly once she has found the energy to move. Rhys slowly stops humming, arms coming to band round her in a loose hug. Enough to cradle her without weighing her in a trap. Isabella takes a moment to look around, releasing that Rhys must have winnowed her back home while she had cried. They were in her living room, resting on the large sofa in front of the coffee table that was still covered with Oliver's toys.