Chapter 57

FELIX

It had only been three days since Mila left, but each second felt like an eternity.

If the sun rose and set, I didn’t notice. All I could focus on was the empty side of the bed and the quiet that filled my apartment. Mrs. Raven and Joseph both tried to distract me from Mila’s absence, but nothing helped.

I awoke three days after Mila left on the couch in my study in the castle. I had taken to sleeping in here instead of my apartment, finding it too depressing without her. But the couch was uncomfortable, and I woke up with a stiff neck and sore back.

Nothing would be as uncomfortable as the conversation I was about to have with my parents, however. I needed to tell them about Mila’s departure, and see if they had any advice for getting her back.

And breaking the curse, I supposed.

I dragged myself to my family’s private quarters. I was not surprised to find Esmeralda in the chambers alongside my parents. She had been ever-present since Charles’ betrayal and my engagement. They all turned me as I walked in.

“Where’s Mila?” My mother asked, concern knitting its way across her brow. I sighed heavily. I was not looking forward to this.

“She’s gone,” I said finally. “Back to America. She’s fed up with all the secrets and lies.”

My parents exchanged a horrified look.

“What do you mean?” my father demanded.

The whole story tumbled out of me–my conversation with Mila in the hospital, our fight, her leaving. My mother’s face grew paler with each word, and Esmeralda sank into a chair.

“If she’s gone…” my father’s voice trailed off as he thought.

“Then who will break the curse?” my mother finished his sentence with no shortage of terror.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t really know what to do.”

“Well, go and get her!” My father exclaimed. “Surely she will understand why you had to keep this from her. This is an ancient family secret, not some ex-girlfriend you forgot to tell her about.”

“Yes, but…” I swallowed hard. “I don’t know if she’ll ever trust me again. I’m afraid I hurt her too much.”

“Well, figure it out,” my father said stiffly. I knew he was sliding into his persona as a ruler, a King, because being a father to a dying man right now was too painful. “Come, Esmeralda. We must figure out another way to break this curse.”

Esmeralda shot me a sympathetic glance as she followed my father from the room. My mother was openly weeping, making no secret of her distress. I sat down on the couch next to her, unsure of how to comfort her.

“She hates me, Mother,” I said, hating the way the words sounded. “I don’t know if I can fix this one.”

“There is always a path to forgiveness, darling,” she said softly. “Surely there is a way to make Mila understand that you were just trying to protect her. You love her, that is obvious to everyone. You just need to make sure she knows that.”

“I don’t know if there’s a way to forgiveness in this situation,” I said. My voice was flat. Sad. Broken. I was a shell of the person I had been before Mila. “She’s furious, Mother. You didn’t see her face.”

“The only way she will never forgive you is if you never apologize,” my mother said softly. I looked up at her in surprise.

“I’m just trying to give her space,” I protested, but my mother shook her head.

“And is she just supposed to come to her own conclusions that you were doing the right thing? You get to sit back and let her do the heavy lifting of repairing your relationship?”

She was right, and we both knew it. I leaned back on the couch.

My mother smiled ruefully and placed a gentle hand on the side of my face.“Love is complicated, Felix. It is something you must fight for every day. And I think you will regret it for the rest of your life if you do not fight for Mila, and not just because she is your Destined Bride.”

“You think so?”

“I know love when I see it, my dear,” she said.

I kissed her cheek and rushed from the room. I had a phone call to make.

It only took a little bit of digging to find the phone number of Mila’s family in America. I could only assume that she had gone back to her parents, despite their awful behavior towards her. I felt my heart tighten at the idea that returning to an abusive home was better for her than staying with me.

I swallowed my pride, and my fear, and dialed.

A bored female voice–decidedly not Mila–answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello,” I said, attempting an authoritative voice. “Is this the Benson residence?”

“Depends on who’s asking,” the woman responded. She sounded young, too young to be Mila’s mother. Perhaps she was Mila’s sister. I couldn’t remember her name, only that she had a nasty temper and a mean streak.

“Can I speak to Mila?” I asked.

The woman on the other end giggled snarkily. “Mila’s not allowed to talk on the phone until she’s finished all her chores. And I can guarantee she’s never going to finish if I have anything to say about it.”

I instantly hated her.

“Can you at least pass along a message to her?” I asked, straining to sound polite. “Tell her it’s important.”

“And you never answered my question. Who exactly is calling?”

“It’s Felix, from Fresonia.” I had no idea what Mila had told her family in regards to who I was. “Mila and I were, well, we are, we just–”

“Mila’s lover? Who dumped her?”

I did not like her smug tone. She thought I was the one who had broken up with Mila? What the hell had she told her family?

“That’s not quite what happened–” I began, but the sister cut me off.

“Oh my god, you have to tell me the whole story,” she said. “Mila refuses to say anything about it. But I gotta know what happened. Was she terrible in bed or something?”

I was really starting to get annoyed. No wonder Mila had wanted to leave her family if this was how they treated people. “Look, will you just tell her I called–”

Now the sister started to openly cackle. “Absolutely not. You deserve better than that loser, I’ll tell you that much. And it’s fun having her be a little maid here, even though she’s all mopey. But I’m glad you called. Now I have something else to rub in her face.”

And with that, she hung up.

I slammed the phone onto the table.

If I couldn’t call Mila, there was only one option left. I had to go to her. If I could just see her, plead my case in person, then maybe she would understand why I had lied.

I made another phone call, this time to Joseph.

“Hey, it’s me,” I said by way of greeting. “Pack your bags. We’re going to America in the morning.”