Heart of Radiance | Eternal Bonds: Book 3

Chapter Fourteen

AN: Hello and welcome to Chapter Fourteen! We'll be starting in Gabriel's head this time. Hope you all enjoy! Be sure to drop some comments as you read! Now onward and forward to Chapter Fourteen!

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*Gabriel*

I stood out on the balcony of the library, looking at the stars, wondering if my parents and Alexandra were watching me as I fulfilled the terms of the contract.

Would they be pleased that I was upholding a promise my Father has made?

Or would they be angry at me for abandoning my soul mate, Raine Riverton?

My heart told me that they'd most likely be the latter.

And yet my head assured me that I was doing the right thing.

But still...

Part of me still wondered if I had made a terrible mistake.

Was Raine truly hurting as much as Leon claimed she was?

The door of the balcony opened and I heard soft, delicate footsteps. They were relatively quiet and had to have belonged to someone trained to sneak around. The footsteps got closer and Raine appeared next to me.

"Am I disturbing you?" she asked.

"Not at all," I replied with a smile.

Silence fell over us as we looked up at the stars.

I wondered if I should tell her what was really going on. The contract. My love for her. All of it. That argument I had with Leon had cut me to the core and had made me realize that I'd been wrong.

She didn't deserve to be lied to.

And I'd been a terrible person to do that to her.

I had to tell her.

"Raine...I...I want to apologize," I told her, "I lied to you before and I shouldn't have. That night on the balcony during the Revelry...I should have just told you the truth. I'm in love with you, Raine. I have been for a while, but this whole thing with Melisande and the contract happened and I just..." I sighed. "I should have listened to Damien and Leon," I told Raine, "I never should have pushed you away."

Raine smiled.

"Gabriel...don't be mad, but Leon told me about the contract," Raine told me, "We've been trying to stall the wedding."

I blinked a few times, unsure of how to react to that. On the one hand, I was a little pleased that Raine knew about the contract. On the other hand I was angry that Leon had betrayed my trust. And on top of all that, I was feeling guilty about forsaking my favourite Fledgling, especially after he'd gone to such great lengths to stop me from going through with this.

"Why?" I asked, curious as to what her answer would be.

"Because you're meant to be with me," Raine told me, "Do you feel anything when you're with Melisande?"

"No," I replied without hesitation.

"Do you feel something when you're with me?" she asked.