PARIS'S POV

It was both the most selfless, and kindest thing I had ever done. Letting Ember go.


I was both liberated and heartbroken. And I wondered how a person could feel so much in such equal and destructive amounts. I wanted alcohol, wanted to lose myself in the bottle, but Jackson caught me while I was on my second glass and sat with me.

You look like you're in a poor mood, Sire. So, I have reason to believe that you aren't in a very safe place right now. Which Is why.." he started and walked toward me, picked up my bottle and went back to his chair, sat, "I won't let you do what you are of the mind to do."

"What I want to do right now is of no business of yours, Jackson. A man is entitled to his booze when he isn't feeling so bright." And God knew I didn’t feel bright. And I wasn’t sure if I would ever feel bright anymore. It was possible that I was simply being overly emotional right at that moment. It was possible that the alcohol was beginning to cloud things a title bit. But I genuinely felt like crap. And Jackson taking my bottle was not going to help. Not right then though.


"entitled he is. But you tend to overdo it. And you get all emotional with it. It's a hard sight to deal with, to be honest." He said and sneered at the bottles he held in front of him, “you can’t think clearly when you gulp this down this way. You know this.”

I gulped in the remainder of my glass and gave home the stink eye,


"That’s neither here nor there. Plus, if you only knew what I was going through at the moment. If you could only feel the depth of pain I'm stewing in, then perhaps you would give me back that bottle with immediate effect and stop trying to be my chaperone."

"Then how about you tell me? Perhaps trying to talk about it, rather than drinking your sorrows away might actually be the thing you need right now."

"What I need right now… is that bottle," I said and got up, walked to the bar, and got a new bottle.

"I might need to clear your stash after this," Jackson said and I only shrugged,

"I'd just go to a bar or something."

"fine then. Will you at least tell me what the problem is though?"

I opened the bottle, poured some of its contents into my glass, and drank before turning to Jackson, "There is only one thing that can weaken a man like me, Jackson. And that thing is love. It's over that has gotten me this way, my brother." I said and shook my head against the pain that tried to swallow me up.

"What did she do now?"

"nothing. I was so caught up in the kidnap that I didn't even think to call you up, but-"

"the kidnap? Whose kidnap?" Jackson asked sharply and I inhaled and exhaled,

"Embers kidnap."

"Ember got kidnapped?" he asked, as though he couldn't believe his ears and I nodded,

"by Kate's uncle. The one harassed her a couple of months ago." I said and he looked bewildered as he shook his head,

"that must have been a whole lot for her," he said and I nodded,

"it was. He locked her in a room filled with wolfsbane, so she got poisoned. Passed out and got Ashen. went through all of that."

"my goodness," he said and did the sign against evil. The guy wasn't even all that religious., "I mean, I see why you're so worked up now. It must have been hard for you to deal with it."

"It made me angry to see her in the state I found her in. but that's not the reason I'm in a poor mood right now," I said and drank from my glass, suddenly emotional,

"then why are you?" he asked and I let out a heavy sigh,

"because after all these months of going back and forth with Ember. After all these months of her pushing me away because she was tired of how I constantly made her sad… I finally see the bigger picture, Jackson. Her life is so much better without me. And with jean in it."

"Am I hearing you correctly?"

"if what you're hearing is the fact that I'm finally letting her go. Then you're hearing correctly, Jackson. You're hearing just fine."

"wow. I was under the impression that you would fight for her forever."

"I would have. If I knew I had a chance. If I knew that I was completely forgiven. But the thing is, just when she was finally ready to forgive me, then I would come up with another reason for her to be unhappy. I was only ruining her life... And Kate. I still don't know what to do with Kate, all I know is that this time around, I want to be free of her for good."

"she won't let you go so easily."

"Not when I'm done with her. I'm yet to confront her about her beloved uncle. Knowing the woman, she's bound to spin a tale about how she possibly has no idea what any of it is about. But I don't care about that. She'll face the tune I play. I'm a bit too sore and heartbroken to be lenient."

"This is very selfless of you." Jackson commented, but I shook my head, "Don't think I'm an angel just yet though, "there is a time frame."

"a time frame?" he asked and I nodded,

"three months. I gave her three months to build the life she might want for herself. She seems to be trying to do that with Jean, and I know I constantly get in the way. So she has three months to do that without my interference. I won't intrude, I won't interfere. I won't come in between their possible budding love."

"And if it works out? If they actually fall in love?"

"then I wish them all of the happiness and love I couldn't manage to have with her. For mistakes that were clearly mine though. I accept everything. But if she doesn't, and you can be sure that I will be watching from afar, then I'm coming back into her life like a bloody force to be reckoned with. And I'm not taking no for an answer. I'm not ever going to try and let go again."

"That sounds more like you," he said and on what seemed to be a second thought, drank from the bottle he had taken from me.

"Slainchè," I said and raised my glass to him, before drinking from it.

I found her outside, sitting on the bench, stewing over the heavens knew what. I put my wolf in a mental cage because he always managed to step out when I had to deal with Kate. He would step out and make my trip over a chastisement, and I didn't want to deal with that just now.

"A word," I said without preamble, and she slowly turned her head to me, her eyes filled. She was crying.

"I'm so sorry about Ember, Paris," she said, heartbrokenly and I lifted a brow,

"So you know about that."

"I got word. "

"word," I repeated, and folded both my hands in front of me,

“Paris, why are you acting this way? If there’s something that is troubling you, how about you simply let me know.”

“You’re oddly bold for a woman who isn’t free of guilt.”

“What guilt am I being held accountable for now?”

“A whole lot to be honest.” I said and breathed in and out to keep from lashing out irrationally,

“Let’s have it then.” She said , brushing tears away from her cheeks.

"explain to me who was the provider of this word. And then, when you're done with the lies, you can explain to me what role you played in what your uncle did. And I'll advise you to save the lies in that aspect. I'm not in a very good mood."