Chapter Thirteen

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After a long night of talking to the king, Alena and Zahari finally made it back to their rooms. Alena stopped in front of Zahari's door, knowing they still needed to talk. She would have preferred to get out of the dress she was wearing first, but she wanted to get the conversation out of the way.

"I think we'd better have that conversation now," she said. She opened the door to his room and walked inside, and he followed her, closing the door behind him.

"Do we need to do this now? I'm tired."

"You'd rather just have me sleep with you tonight and hope I forget about all this tomorrow."

"I would take it if that's what you're offering."

"No," she said with a sigh, actually finding the idea tempting. She wished things could go back to just being a physical relationship but it had already moved beyond that for both of them.

"Okay, so is it over?"

"I don't know," she said, hoping that it wasn't. "Zahari, this can't last. It will end when I go back to Shyn. And I can't help but think that the longer we carry this on, the more you're going to get hurt. That's the last thing I want." She didn't tell him that she would also be hurt, not wanting him to know just how strongly she felt about him.

"Why does this have to end?"

"Because when I go back to Shyn, there's no room for you in my life. I'm sorry, Zahari. But that's the way things are. But I've had fun this past week. I want it to continue. But I understand if you want to walk away now."

"I'd do anything for one more night with you," Zahari said. "At this point, it's going to be painful no matter what, so might as well make as many good memories as we can."

Alena was glad to hear him say that, feeling the same way herself. She wanted plenty of good memories to take back to Shyn with her. She smiled and then turned her back on him. 

"We can start with those memories as soon as you help me out of this dress."  

***

Alena and Zahari hadn't gone to sleep until early morning when the sun was just starting to shine. Because of that, they slept in late and even after waking up, they stayed together in bed and they probably could have spent the entire day like that if not for a loud knock on the door.

"Zahari!" Tsveta shouted from the other side of the door. "If you're in there, get out! There's a situation going on and we need to find Alena!"

Swearing, Alena jumped out of bed, grabbing her clothes and quickly making her way to the door leading to her room. Zahari didn't even have a chance to say anything before she was gone.  He got out of bed much more slowly than she did and found a pair of pants to put on before going to the door.

When he opened it, he found Tsveta and Gavrail in the hallway. If the two of them were talking, there had to be something serious going on. And somehow, it involved Alena, and Zahari could only imagine that things were worse.

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