Now his voice grew louder, angry. “If you didn’t want this, you shouldn’t have asked me to bring you with me. Fault’s on you.”

“Open the fucking door! I don’t want to talk through a piece of wood.”

The knob turned, and he unlocked it, opening the door quickly and staring down at me with eyes filled with the underworld. He breathed hard, his jaw clenched tightly, like he was pissed off at me the way he’d been with Magnus. “What?”

My eyes welled up with tears. “Please don’t make me sleep in here alone. It brings back so much.”

His anger didn’t wane, not this time. “You insult me. You think I’d ever let something happen to you?”

“It’s not that, okay? I just don’t want to be alone…with my thoughts…my memories.”

Still nothing.

“You’ve slept with me before—”

“That was when I trusted you. I don’t trust you anymore.”

My eyes closed at the comeback. “Mon amour—”

“Nothing you say will change my mind. You’re the only woman I’ve slept with my entire life—and you threw it away.”

“Why are you like this—”

“None of your fucking business.” He slammed the door and locked it. “That’s why.”

Fender was a different man when he was here.

Hostile. Angry. Venomous.

I hardly recognized him.

He was out of the cabin most of the day, so I stayed inside alone. I didn’t get much sleep, during the day or at night, because just being at the camp was so traumatizing. He was the one thing that could make me feel better, but he refused to comfort me. He didn’t give in to my demands, and every night, he locked me in the bedroom.

Thankfully, we were only there for a couple days.

When it was time to leave, I was so relieved to get the hell out of there.

The fact that Raven had to stay just made me feel worse.

I had a choice—she didn’t.

We rode on horseback back to the main road, took his car into Paris, and then pulled up to the palace at dark. The windows of his bedroom were lit because Gilbert had it prepared for Fender’s return. The grounds were maintained. The flowers were in bloom. It was such a beautiful place.

I was so happy to be back I nearly cried.

I could never go back to the camp again.

We entered the palace, were greeted with pleasantries from Gilbert, and then headed upstairs.

Fender went into his bedroom, still in a foul mood.