Chapter 61

Aria’s POV

I stood in stunned silence, my mouth falling open, looking at Lucian, trying to understand what he was saying.

While not a divorce, a mutual rejection would end our mating bond. Lucian’s mark on my neck would fade and we’d be free to bond with others instead.

For him to suggest such a thing…

“With the current public opinion and the clear objections from my parents, I cannot give you a formal divorce just yet,” Lucian continued. His gaze veered off to the side, unable to meet my eyes. “But I will work to resolve everything as soon as I can so that you can be free, Aria.”

My shock made way for horror, and then for pain. Hurt swelled out from my heart so quickly that had Jasper not been holding me upright, I would have likely fallen over.

What a hypocrite I was. Here, Lucian was giving me everything I said I wanted, and now I wished he’d take it all back.

Yet I wasn’t such a fool as to think that Lucian was doing any of this for my benefit. He might say he wanted to set me free, but that was a lie.

Lucian had avoided the topic when Jasper brought her up earlier, but Sheila had to be the main cause for this change of heart.

In setting me free, he would be freed himself. Then, he could finally be with Sheila. Just like he’d always wanted.

The raw hurt inside of me brought old insecurities forward. Why had he and Sheila ever split to begin with? His heart had always been with her. I’d only ever been an imposter taking her place.

With this pain refreshed came certain level of clarity. This separation hadn’t just been for me. I’d left Lucian for my own and my baby’s sake, but the action had also been birthed from a certain devotion I held for him.

Since Lucian loved Sheila, he should be allowed to be with her without my interference. I wanted Lucian to have the things that he wanted, even at the cost of my own feelings.

Somewhere out there, a good man had to be waiting for me to come along. A decent man, who would love me as much as I wanted to be love. Someone who wouldn’t dream of being with someone else.

I only hoped I would be ready for that man if I were to eventually meet him. With how much my heart ached, I imagined I would be feeling grief over my relationship with Lucian for some time.

He’d had me fooled with the vows we made to each other.

Now, my heart was paying the price.

Lucian’s POV

This was going to be one of the most difficult things I’d ever had to do. Letting Aria go wasn’t in my nature. She was my mate and my wife. She had been the one to make my house a home. She had done more for me than I ever realized. Even now, I was only beginning to see all that she had done for my sake.

She was a good person, too. Beautiful, and stronger than I had thought.

Over our past years together, I had given her too much cause for unhappiness. Now that we were apart, I could see her give her smile to others – that same smile she had once held for me.

An uncomfortable pain crisscrossed over my chest. I’d never truly felt something like this before, and I didn’t fully understand it. I felt a loss, and not just because I would be losing my housewife…

There was something deeper aching, down in the core of my soul.

“Don’t do this,” my wolf whispered to me. “She is ours. Breaking the bond will allow others to claim her.”

“It is what she wants,” I reminded my wolf inside of my mind.

“You will regret it,” my wolf said. “You regret it already.”

Maybe I did. But for Aria…

“I want to see her smile again,” I said. “If our bond and marriage is the price I must pay, so be it.”

Still my wolf warned, “You don’t realize what you are doing…”

I tuned out my wolf then, focusing on Aria and the moment. Jasper’s arm was still around her.

I needed to just get this over with. “Do you accept?”

Aria hesitated.

Jasper nudged her with his shoulder. “This is what you want, Aria.”

When our eyes met again, hers were sad. She looked how I felt inside.

“I accept,” she said softly.

“Very well.”

I held out my hand for her. She frowned at it.

A physical connection wasn’t necessary to break the bond, but it made things easier for the pair involved. I’d hurt her enough. From here out, I’d make things as easy for her as I could – even if that meant carrying the heavy weight of pain on my own shoulders alone.

Slowly, cautiously, she placed her hand in mine.

Jasper released her stepped away. Only now did I realize Cathy and Dr. A’s assistant watching from the doorway. Were Piper and Aria friends? No matter.

Closing my fingers around the back of Aria’s palm, I focused inside myself for the bond that held the two of us together. While I couldn’t see it, I could feel a gentle tug inside of myself, like an invisible string that bound me ever to Aria.

“Ready?” I asked her.

Her own eyes were closed. “Yes.”

I tugged at that invisible string, stretching it so taunt that it shivered under the pressure. Then, it snapped.

Aria and I released each other, each of us stumbling back. Jasper quickly caught Aria, while I steadied myself on my own.

Looking at Aria, I could feel the new distance between us, and not just the two feet or so of sidewalk.

“You are a fool,” my wolf scolded.

I could only accept his judgement. Here I was, breaking my bond with my wife.

Now, I had to do something even more difficult. I had to walk away and leave her here in Jasper’s arms. Even with the bond broken, everything inside of me was begging me to stay, to not leave her, knowing this could be the last time we saw each other.

Our lawyers could handle the divorce when the time came.

“Is that it?” Jasper asked, looking between Aria and me. “Is it over?”

“Yes,” Aria said weakly, her hand on her chest, over her heart.

She’d be fine in time. Jasper would be there for her to help her fill the hole the broken bond might have left within her.

I would not be gifted the same mercy. The burden of my broken bond with Aria, I would have to carry alone.

There was nothing more to say. So I turned, pulling my gaze away from Aria and her new love, and forced myself to walk away, back to the car.

The parts of me that weren’t hurting were filled to the brim with regret.

Aria’s POV

With every step Lucian took away from me, I grew colder and colder, my entire body chilling like a frost had set in.

Our bond was broken. I felt the hollow spot inside of me where it had once been.

While I was frozen, stricken with loss and grief, my wolf howled mournfully within me.

This was what I wanted, I tried to remind myself. But the words feel empty now.

Just like the rest of me.