Love Me Never

18| Crowned

┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓

Crowned

┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

Chapter 18: Crowned (Rhys' POV)

We stood there, glowering at each other. It's impossible to fix things between us. She makes it way too difficult and I don't have the patience to deal with her while I'm dealing with the paranoia now that we're married. 

One would think now that we're married, our past shouldn't be kept under wraps any longer, but that's not true at all. In fact, it's the opposite. Because of that one asshole, I had to let her go once but now that we're married, I have no doubt that he's going to try to bring out our past once again. I bet he can't wait to tell everybody that three whole years ago, I broke all the rules for this girl and that's why now I don't deserve to be king. It's not about what people would think either. It's about the members of the council. And nobody wants a king who doesn't abide by the rules. 

"So what are we going to do now, Ava? Stay in a marriage that does the same thing? Break us both beyond repair?" 

"What do you think you can do then? Fix me up by apologizing? Oh wait, never mind, because you don't even know how to apologize, do you?" 

"I only asked you of one thing. Not to argue tonight," I said through gritted teeth. 

"What are you going to do about it, Rhys?" She stepped closer. "What the hell will you do, huh?" 

"Something you probably won't like," I retorted. 

"I can handle it," she dared. "Go ahead. You've done a lot of things to me that I hated." 

I took in a labored breath before letting it out, working my jaw. I grabbed her waist and she quickly threw my hands off. "Shh," I hissed. She blinked, staring at me, frozen. I grabbed her waist and shifted her so her back was to the bed. I pushed her down, making her sit down while I kneeled in front of her, keeping my hands on her waist. "What is it that you want, Ava?" I asked. 

"Do you really think that matters?" She scoffed at me. 

"I think that's the only thing that matters. What is it that you want? An apology?" 

"I don't want your apologies." She threw my hands off again but I grabbed her hands, pinning them down to the mattress. 

"What do you want?" I asked as softly as I possibly could. I can't be mad at her for hating me. I've given her every reason to do just that. 

"Answers. An explanation maybe?" We stared at each other for a minute. She swallowed, blinking quickly and looking towards the window again. 

"Ava, I—" 

"Why did you do that to me?" She looked back at me, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Tell me right now. What the hell happened that made you do all that? Why did you have to break my heart like that?" Her shoulders shook and her chest heaved with a sob. 

I stood up, letting her hands go. 

She wiped her cheeks dry, staring down and refusing to look up at me. She sniffled and stopped herself from crying anymore before looking up at me. "I hate you for what you did," she said. "And you won't even apologize!" She shot up to her feet, giving me a push. 

"I know I hurt you when I shouldn't have," I mumbled, staring at her. "I know you didn't deserve any of what I put you through." 

She clenched her teeth.