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Not by him

Meanwhile, he lost his father, and gained a throne, and he would be alone because the woman he finally adiven ti to have her by his side His country His crown Hell, his life Maybe he could have loved her enough to lose it all

But all he was to her was a good memory

If it weren’t so hard to breathe, h at the irony of it all

“Shit,” heover so his feet hit the floor Resting his elbows on his thighs, he took a deep breath and dragged his hands down his face “I’ idiot”

She let out a small sound “Leo, I didn’t mean—”

“Don’t backtrack now I heard you, loud and clear And for the first ti to knowup where we left off, or in any of that You don’t want o home, and put this whole mess behind you, like the first ti I exist”

She gripped her knees tightly, squeezing the comforter she’d pulled over them “I never—”

“So you can do that,” he cut in “You can go”

She sucked in a breath “Seriously?”

“Absolutely” He stepped into his pants “Go home, Alicia”

She sucked in a deep breath, and the bed shifted underneath her as she leaned closer to place a hand on his shoulder “Leo—”

Whirling on her, he held his ar out the pain And, yes, noasn’t the best ti heavily on his et theto do with him

“I get it now I understand why you won’t forgive ive me It’s not because you can’t, it’s because you don’t want to,” he said in a rush, the words flowing out of hi “I was a fool to think I could win your trust back, because you never trusted me in the first place And I was even more of an idiot to think that e have between us, what you ain, because you never loved me, either Love, real love, isn’t like this Love isn’t one sided, and it doesn’t just die off because you’redie”

She sed hard, staring, not speaking