NOLAN

Yena was asleep when Nolan got up in the morning, and he managed not to wake her as he showered and dressed. He kissed her on the forehead lightly before leaving.

In this office, the divorce forms were waiting for him on his desk. The stack of papers was nearly an inch thick. Nolan would be spending his morning reading through it, making sure everything was in order… just in case Yena would actually go through with it.

He sighed repeatedly as he leafed through the paperwork. And thought seriously about abandoning this plan. It was so dangerous.

The closer he got to giving her this choice, the more afraid he was becoming.

She might actually take this opportunity he has giving her.

And Nolan would lose the only person in the world who had ever really known him. And who he loved more than anything. More than he ever thought was possible.

But he had to do something. So he was moving forward with the plan, and just holding out hope in his heart that it would be all that Yena needed, to know Nolan would do anything to make her happy. And that she would stay.

He had his secretary send a message to Yena, letting her know he would be busy this afternoon, and asking her to meet him in their dining room at five p.m. for dinner.

Nolan arrived before Yena and took a place at the dinner table.

He had never been so nervous about anything in his life.

He had brought the big, thick file of divorce paperwork with him. It was on the chair next to him, out of sight for now.

Yena walked into the room and gave him a little smile.

“Hi,” she said. “How was your day?”

“Busy,” Nolan said. “How about yours?”

Yena shrugged. “Not busy. Just slept in, read a little, then worked on my designs.”

Yena plated herself some food and started eating.

Nolan pushed around the food on his plate with a fork, feeling like he might throw up if he ate it.

His lack of appetite was, of course, very suspicious to Yena.

“What’s wrong?” she said, looking back and forth between his full plate and his anxious face.

“There’s something we need to talk about.” Nolan felt his hands starting to shake, and put them in his lap, where Yena couldn’t see them.

“Okay,” she replied cautiously. “What is it?”

“It’s about your education.”

“Oh. Did you talk to your mother about it again?”

“No, I… I wanted to run something by you first, before I talk to her.”

“Okay. What?”

Nolan wiped his mouth. “I didn’t tell you everything before, because I wanted to be supportive of what you wanted to do. But you need to know what it would really mean, if you were to leave the country to study abroad.”

Yena’s eyes narrowed. “What didn’t you tell me?”

“This is the bottom line, Yena. As things stand right now, in a time of peace here, it would already be difficult to ensure you would be safe in the human world. But once Adan makes his move, it will no longer just be difficult for you to travel back and forth… it will be impossible.”

“Why?”

“The human government will likely close their borders against all immigration. They already don’t like werewolves in their world. And in a wartime situation here, lots of people will want to leave the country.”

“So… they’ll ban all werewolves from traveling there. Because they won’t take on war refugees.”

“Yes.” Nolan nodded his head. “And not only that. You… you are not just any werewolf.”

Yena waited for him to continue.

“You would be in great danger there, Yena, and I would not be able to protect you. Outside of the palace, and so far away… Adan is well connected over there, and he will take any chance he can get to hurt you, to get to me.”

Yena looked away and said, “So basically, you’re telling me I can’t go.”

Then her eyes snapped back to his. They looked suddenly angry.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she demanded. “I wouldn’t have put in all that work on my application. Why did you tell me you’d support me if you can’t?”

“I can,” Nolan said. “I can support you. But there’s only one way that I can give you what you really want.”

“And what’s that?”

Nolan retrieved the file folder from the chair and placed it on the table in front of Yena.

She looked down at it. Back up at Nolan. And back to the folder again.

She seemed very nervous.

“What is that?” she asked quietly.

Nolan took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth.

This was it. No more delays.

“We can get divorced,” Nolan said, “if that’s what you want. I had my attorney draw up the paperwork.”

All the color drained from Yena’s face. She went completely pale.

“What?” Her voice came out small, like the shadow of a whisper.

“It’s not what I want, Yena.” Nolan’s chest was tight, and his heart was beating so fast he started to feel like he might pass out. “But it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for you.”

Yena pushed her dinner plate to the side and pulled the file close to her. She flipped it open and froze when she looked down at the first page.

“It’s the only way,” Nolan said, “that you can go to the human world for school. If your education is the most important thing to you, and you feel you must do this for yourself, I will let you go. I told you I would do anything to make you happy, and if setting you free is the only way to do that, then I will do it.”

Yena looked up at Nolan. Her face was blank with shock.

“When did you have this contract drawn up?” she asked.

Nolan shrugged and said, “Does it matter?”

She looked away again.

“Yena, I want you to know that this has nothing to do with Gina. I don’t love her and I don’t want anything to do with her.”

Yena squinted her eyes. Nolan could tell that bringing Gina’s name up had upset her. He started wishing he hadn’t said anything about his ex at all.

Yena started to turn the pages of the big stack of divorce paperwork, looking it over very slowly.

“I just need to give you a way out,” Nolan continued. “If this is what you really want, I’ll respect your decision.”

Still, Yena said nothing…

“What do you think?” he asked.

Nolan was dying of anticipation. His heart raced as he waited for her reply.

He was hoping she would say no.

Hoping she would say that she could never do such a terrible thing.

That she could never leave Nolan. That she loved him too much. That the two of them were meant for each other, made for each other, and belonged together forever.

But she sat there in silence for a long time, looking down at the paperwork, and making him wait.