Rick stared at Emerald for several long moments, his breath coming in quick gasps. "What is this?" he asked, even though the truth was written plainly across her face. "What's going on, Emerald?"
He could see it in her face. She had sold him out. She had betrayed him. The woman he'd been trying to change for, the one he had just opened his heart to hours earlier.
"No… don't bother. I already know. Look at your face." He let out a bitter laugh that sounded more like a growl. "You sold me out. You betrayed me."
"We had to do what we could to stop the war," Emerald said quietly, unable to meet his eyes.
"Stop the war?" Rick thundered, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "It had already been stopped! We had an agreement! We signed a treaty!"
"Did you really expect me," Emerald shot back, in a sharp voice even as her hands trembled, "to leave everything behind just for you? To abandon my life, walk away from my mates, my pack, my people? Did you really believe that?"
