Exodus (The Ravenhood #2)

by Kate Stewart

“There’s something you need to know.” He swallows, his frame rattling as he covers my hand on his chest, the beat beneath quickening, smashing against my palm as if trying to break free. “Your heart is not your weakness, Cecelia. It’s mine.”

“Yours. I was always supposed to be yours,” I say as he nods and crushes me with his kiss.

“After this, you want to watch a movie?” Dominic asks. “You can make that cheddar popcorn I love. We can crowd under that blanket that smells like . . . what’s that smell?” I choke on a fresh wave of fear. “Lavender,” I say as more tears stream down my cheeks. “Yeah. And I’ll let you watch a chick movie because all I really want to do is watch you watch it. Your face gets all dopey when you get love drunk.”

“We love rainy days, don’t we, baby?” Dominic’s voice drifts up as he takes a step toward Matteo.

We both know I was never going to make it to thirty, brother. Take care of her.

“I’ll find you again. I’ll find you in my dreams. We’ll have so many rainy days. I’ll find you—”

In visions of the dark night I have dreamed of joy departed— But a waking dream of life and light Hath left me broken-hearted. —“A Dream,” Edgar Allen Poe

“So, you’re really ending this for a man you may never have?” I stand and run my hand through his hair before cupping his jaw. “I hope you’ll believe our breakup is for more than me. I broke our engagement because you deserve a woman who can forget her past and be solely yours, and I truly want you to be happy.” “And what about your happiness?” “I don’t know, Collin. I guess . . .” I repeat Tobias’s words. “I don’t get a happy ending. I just get an ending.”

Wait for me my love. Until we meet again. Until we can feel the rain on both our faces. There has to be a time for us in the next life. I don’t want any part of a heaven where I don’t see you.

Once upon a time, I was a lonely girl who met a lonely king, and we both suffered from too much pride and oh, how the reckless have fallen. Between my romantic notions and his aspirations, we deceived ourselves, and all I feel now is sorrow.

“Because loving you made me sick as fuck and losing you twice has made me terminal. I don’t want to live out any ending that doesn’t include you.”

“If you leave, I’ll come after you. If you change your mind, I’ll change it back. I’ll fight so fucking hard for you every single day, so you never question if you made the right choice.”