Chapter 180

Chapter 180 He already knows it
KALEB
The pathetic expression on Kane Collin’s otherwise attractive face was sickeningly pitiful. His long–lashed violet eyes were pathetic as they remained fixed on the beautiful healer, and I fought the urge to sigh.
I wasn’t unfamiliar with this look. I’d seen plenty of it on my mother’s face before she died. She would lean her emaciated b*dy against the door frame and stare at the empty hall with longing in her ice–blue eyes. Yet, despite all of her yearning and wistful dreaming my father never visited her.
So, my mother brought that look all the way to her tomb. It was silly and shameful for her to believe that my father ever loved her, not to mention pathetic and naive. The whole idea of love in general was foolish.
I averted my eyes from Kane’s face and glanced over at Healer Ca*sandra, who looked both baffled and vexed. I had to admit that I found it interesting to see this young, lovely woman lose her temper, given the fact that she always seemed to be so calm and subdued. I was somehow delighted by her fierce and lively expression and desired to see more.
She was an intriguing woman who perplexed me in so many ways. In all of my travels, I’d never known a girl like her.
I smiled at her. “I would love to allow Lord Kane to confess to what he’s done.”
As she stared at me in confusion, I glanced at the Alpha King’s wounded brother. “Go ahead, Lord Kane. What have you been doing daily during this, your longest stay in Anemond? Please, do tell us.”
Kane’s glare hardened as if he wanted to give me a warning, but I couldn’t care less. “What I do with my days isn’t any of your business. It has nothing to do with you.”
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Oh, but it does,” I replied, and I shot him a launting smile as I took a step closer to him. “My guards have made countless reports of your presence while they were keeping an eye on Healer Ca*sandra.”
Ca*sandra’s deep green eyes narrowed and shot daggers in my direction at the mention of her name.
“How long have you been letting your guards stalk me?” she demanded.
A laugh rose up from my belly. “I just wanted to make sure you were intact before you accompanied me to the North. You do have a way of getting into trouble, dear. Besides when it comes to stalking…. Perhaps you should save that moniker for Lord Kane here. It suits him much better.”
“I don’t understand,” Ca*sandra uttered as her eyebrows crinkled in confusion, and then she turned to Kane. “What is he talking about, Kane?”
I smiled at her and then answered for him.
“At first, my guards thought Lord Kane was planning something devious against you, Ca*sandra,“I
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Chapter 180 He already knows it
explained as I crossed my arms against my chest and studied the pair. “ So they reported every single detail of his actions to me. They told me about his every expression, the way he moved, and the way he stared at you through gla*s doors.”
As I paused, I caught a flash of awkwardness on the healer’s pretty face.
“But they quickly figured out there was nothing devious about it,” I sighed, and then I flashed her another smile. “In fact, I found that Lord Kane was doing all of that out of something else.”
While I didn’t say the word “love” as I hated even uttering the term, Ca*sandra was clever enough to understand what I meant. She would have had to be stupid to not get it. But the healer wasn’t unintelligent at all. From the moment I’d mentioned that Kane had been watching her, I’d watched her put it together in her mind. That flash of awkwardness spoke all.
Meanwhile, Kane looked mortified by my utterance. His violet eyes held fire and his l*ps were curled back. into a snarl. Despite the paleness of his face, his cheeks were scarlet.
I chuckled “Don’t look so upset. Lord Kane. There isn’t anything to be ashamed of. I’m simply doing you a favor by putting it all out in the open. If there’s something you don’t agree with, you could always deny it and share the truth with us.”
Kane didn’t speak and instead, averted his eyes. For a moment, I thought he was going to look at Ca*sandra, but the poor, pathetic, lovesick fool, dropped his stare to the ground.
Yet another unpleasant memory danced through my mind at the sight of his upsetness. I remembered that when the darkness filled up the hall and the room my mother resided in, she would drop her head like a lifeless doll. She wouldn’t move or say anything, even after being prompted to do so. She would simply remain still, frozen in place as if she were a hollow–boned statue.
I would walk forward through the dimly lit corridor to check on her, and sometimes, when she was caught off guard, she would turn frantic, and grab me by the shoulders.
During those times of despair and crazed emotions, all the warmth she’d once held in her eyes vanished entirely until she was someone I didn’t recognize. Her nails would sharpen into fierce claws that would rip into my skin as she shook me frantically.
As blood pooled down my arms and stained my shirt, she would repeat the same sentences.
“Why didn’t he come?” or “I love him“.
Sometimes, I would stand there and endure the abuse. I knew that she didn’t mean it, that she was simply haunted and mentally ill, but other times, I took the pain she inflicted on me personally. I would sob and beg for her to release her grip on me. I would plead for her to remember that I was her son and that I didn’t have anything to do with the way my father treated her. I would beg for her to remember that I wasn’t him, that hadn’t abandoned her in the same way he had.
But no matter how much I tried, it didn’t matter.
Mother had never apologized for the way she’d treated me, nor had she even acknowledged the impact the abuse had on me.
Chapter 180 He already knows it
I forced myself to shove the memories from my mind. I couldn’t think of all of that, not now.
Nothing could change the past, and even if it could… I’d learned enough about this so-called love. In my mind, I knew it didn’t exist,
As I stared at Ca*sandra and Kane, I felt sick of this little game I’d initiated. It had dragged out long enough and I was ready to move on from it.
But just as I was about to speak, the healer’s voice interrupted the silence first. She wasn’t speaking to me but to Kane. Her beautiful face was paler than usual, and she still appeared shocked, but not in the way I’d expected. All of the awkwardness in her expression was gone, and instead, was replaced by something | couldn’t quite place.
Her gaze remained locked on Kane, and when she spoke, her words were strange but gentle.
“You already know it, Kane, don’t you?”
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