221: Crossing another line (part 2)

Crossing another line (part 2)

Egon leaned forward, intertwining his big hands on the small coffee table before them. His eyes briefly glanced at the tray with the champagne before meeting Adela's gaze again.1

"Please, go ahead. All I ask is for honesty, and I will be completely honest with you too," she said, wanting him to take the lead in the conversation.

One moment of intense staring passed between them before he took a deep breath, causing his chest to puff out even more, straining the buttons of his white shirt.

"Why did you remove the wretched thing?" he asked, his voice climbing up an octave, showing a hint of vulnerability.

"I only kept it because it brought back memories you tried taking away from me. But that contradicts with what happened up in the reception room. I heard your voice in my head,"

He ran both of his hands through his hair, then folded them across his chest, trying to gather his thoughts.

"It didn't bring back your memories," he said, his voice tinged with frustration. "You thought it did, but it was me."

Suppressing the urge to deny it, she looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"I visited you every day that week, but you never felt me coming because of the bracelet," he explained, "The only thing the metal does is shield you from the bond I have with you. Your mind is something I and Andreas can come in and out of freely. You must trust that we wouldn't..."

She interrupted him with a glare, not fully convinced.

"I will earn your trust once more. We can even practice how you would feel before and after mind control so you would know that I am not doing that anymore. It was a one-time thing; I truly only wanted you to get some rest," 

His expression suddenly changed, and a surge of anger surged through Adela, but she knew it wasn't her own. Egon's eyes turned blood-red, and his voice shifted.

"You think it was easy seeing you bruised like that?" he growled, "I wanted to tear his fingers, one by one, with my fangs while you watched... I wanted to go into his head and become his worst nightmare," he looked repulsed, "But I don't think I can go inside that foul place and come out unaffected."

Adela's eyes flickered to his gloved hands, recalling the thought of Aldric's blood on Egon's hands, it filled her with revulsion.

"Look at me," Egon demanded, his red eyes locking with hers.

"You told me many times that you can protect yourself. I get that you are frustrated when others do that for you, but you have to understand that there are things that you alone can't do, and there are things that I am proud of you for doing, like how you got back on your own by sinking the warlock's ship. That wretched bracelet was useful like that."

Weariness... She was tired of it all.

"Egon... You are near now, you are talking to me as if it was someone else who used and lied to me, but what happens tomorrow? What happens the next hour!"

He straightened up. "I never used you. The warlock's interference changed everything."

She shook her head, refusing to let him off the hook easily for everything he had done.

"You never told me about your uncle; it started there," she reminded him.

He took a deep breath and nodded. "That was a mistake. I should have come to you that night. But reliving all that I lived when my father committed suicide in that forest confused me."

"You pushed me away," she said, her voice quivering with emotion.

"I needed time..."

"No... You pushed me away. You only came to my rescue when I had no one else to call, but you didn't allow me to see you for days, for weeks, when I needed you the most... When you needed me..." her voice broke.

He left his chair and, with one swift move, crouched next to her, holding her hands that were clasped on her bare thigh.

"As I have said, the warlock's interference meant that I had to defy Emanuel, and for that, you had to be convinced that we are separated. Your emotions are always written on your face, and that lunatic would have been able to tell," he explained, his thumb brushing her tight knuckles.

She stiffened further, not wanting to be comforted by him so easily.

"Olga," she said, searching his face.

"It was extremely bad timing, but that man was on her case. She needed a way out of it. So she came to us for help... She could have handled it on her own, but she had always been quite the theatrics practitioner."

"Theatrics...," she tried to repeat his words, but couldn't.

His thumb brushed her knuckles again. "Her tears and sobs back in my house. They were all fake. I have never seen that woman cry a day in my life, Adelaide."

She blinked and then scowled feeling naive and small.

"Don't," he whispered, shaking his head, "There is nothing wrong with being innocent. You apply what you would do over others and believe them to be as clean as you are. You will learn with time that it is not the case. You will have people who look out for you and advise you properly," he said, bending down and kissing her knuckles deeply. "You don't need to rush."

She pulled her hand away, needing to refocus on the conversation.

"You told another woman's father that you would marry her, knowing that I was listening. You... You broke my heart," she said, her voice shaking with hurt.

Egon straightened up again.

"It was the perfect opportunity... But I didn't expect you to believe it so easily. I expected you to laugh out loud or get out of your hiding spot and call me a liar. But when you didn't, I thought that maybe it was for the best for the time being."

"The best?" she questioned, her voice laced with bitterness.

"Adela... I knew that you never considered Aldric's proposal. I don't need a mate bond with you to know that you would not back down on us... Not after we chose each other," he said. "How come you believed that act back then?"

Did she even know who this man was?

"You... Sir... You are a liar," she stated firmly.

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