Chapter 2

Iris POV

Everyone said Charles loved me more than life itself.

But right now, the racket downstairs left me with zero desire to even step out of my room.

I just had the housekeeper bring dinner up.

When the knock came, I assumed it was the housekeeper. I opened the door to find Charles standing there with a tray in his hands.

The apology in his eyes was practically overflowing:

"Iris, Lily said being pregnant makes her emotional, that she didn't want to be alone. That's why she came over today... Just one day. I swear I won't let her come back tomorrow."

I took the tray.

"Why don't you just have her move in?"

Charles froze. A flicker of panic crossed his face:

"Iris, are you upset? I didn't mean for any of this. The baby is innocent, that's all. She's carrying my child, and you haven't been able to get pregnant. I need an heir..."

"I'm not upset," I cut him off. "Go on."

I turned with the tray and started walking back inside, but Charles wrapped his arms around me from behind.

His eyes were red.

"Iris, I'm so sorry. I had no idea someone would drug her at the full moon banquet. I had no idea I'd grab her cup by mistake. It was all an accident. You're the only person I've ever loved."

I looked at him and was about to speak.

"Charles!"

Lily's voice came up the stairs.

"My stomach feels weird. Can you come down for a sec?"

Charles immediately turned and bolted for the door.

He ran fast. Not a moment of hesitation.

I stood there staring at the door he'd shut behind him. My chest felt like someone had drawn a thin blade across it.

It didn't hurt.

It just went cold.

After dinner, Charles sent the housekeeper up to tell me he had a last-minute patrol.

I hadn't planned on waiting up for him anyway. I just went to take a shower.

The bathroom shared a wall with the guest room next door, and Lily was staying there tonight.

I'd just turned on the faucet when all the strength suddenly drained from my body.

Then I heard strange sounds coming through the wall.

The sounds of two people kissing—wet, suggestive, mixed with stifled gasps.

"I'm better than Iris, right?" Lily's voice was thick and breathless.

"Yeah, you're way better." Charles laughed—a flippant tone I'd never heard from him before. "Her? She's a dead fish in bed."

In the steam-filled bathroom, I gripped the windowsill while pain spread from my stomach into my limbs.

"If she weren't so boring," Charles continued, fabric rustling in the background, "I wouldn't have had to come up with this whole plan to be with you..."

Lily laughed, her voice silkier:

"Oh? You just wanted to sleep with me? I'm pregnant, you know."

Charles laughed too:

"You're pregnant, then have it."

His laugh was light, but it sawed through my heart like a dull knife.

Then more intimate sounds. Sounds I should never have heard.

I closed the window and sank into the bathtub.

The hot water rose past my shoulders, past my chest, past my chin.

I closed my eyes and slid completely under. The world went silent in an instant.

Only the pain in my body reminded me I was still alive.

After a long time, I broke the surface, gasping for air.

Suddenly I remembered the Charles I first met.

He was so innocent back then.

Every time he stole a kiss, his ears would turn red—red all the way down to his neck.

Every time I teased him, he'd just stand there flustered, looking at me with eyes bright as a galaxy.

"Iris, I'll be good to you for the rest of my life." That's what he said back then.

I believed him.

But thinking about it now, that promise rotted fast.

Three years. That's all.

My innocence became some other guy's "dead fish." His eyes learned to lie. His arms could hold two women at once.

I'd thought he was just being manipulated, that he was at least still a decent person.

But tonight I finally understood.

Charles was more disgusting than Lily.

At least Lily put her ambition out in the open. Charles was treating me like an idiot!

I climbed out of the tub and walked back to the bedroom, bracing myself against the wall.

The sounds next door still hadn't stopped.

The moonlight outside was cold.

I lay down and closed my eyes.

I hoped Lily wouldn't disappoint me.