I bite my tongue and strive for something resembling patience as Shiloh finishes her shower and turns off the water. She steps out and grabs a towel, very pointedly not looking at me.

“Shiloh.”

“Monroe, I swear to the gods—”

“I love you.” I don’t exactly mean to say it, but the words pop into existence between us all the same.

“What?” She stares at me like I’ve sprouted a second head. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

“I love you,” I repeat, stronger this time. “I want you to be happy and healthy and safe, and right now something is wrong, and it’s worrying me because you won’t tell me what it is. Even if I can’t fix it…” I drag in a breath. Fuck, but being vulnerable is hard. “Even if I can’t fix it, I don’t want you to be going through shit alone. I’m here. Broderick is here.” The next part is harder. “If you’re not comfortable talking to me, then at least talk to him.”

“Monroe,” Shiloh breathes. She pads to me and cups my face with one hand. “Say it again.”

No misunderstanding the command. I lick my lips. “I love you.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Of course I mean it. I’m a bitch, but I don’t throw around words like that without meaning them.”

Her smile is almost sad. “I love you, too.”

“Why are you saying it like you’re apologizing to me?”

She pulls me into a hug that steals my breath. Her next words finish the job. “Would you like to see the house where I grew up?”

Chapter 28

Shiloh

The past two weeks have been agony. The closer I get to Monroe—the more comfortable I get with this new relationship with Broderick—the worse I feel about keeping something so important from them. It’s not just that I’m an Amazon; or, rather, I was. It’s that the current queen has painted a target on my chest.

She hasn’t said a single word to me since the last time, but the threat is there every time she’s in the room. The only thing that’s stayed her hand is Monroe’s obvious affection for me and the fact I’ve kept the truth about my past to myself.

But it feels like lying.

More, I can barely contain my flinch every time Monroe talks about her mother or mentions something about children. It’s not that I want to be pregnant; I stand by the choice I made at nineteen and have no regrets about making it. It’s more that Monroe’s beliefs about the Amazons are just flat-out false.

Maybe they really do revere children. Maybe they really do protect them.