Gideon’s POV
As Avery closed the door and left my room, Dierdra turned her beautiful face towards me with a smile, “Well now, that’s done. Good riddance to her.”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.
The image of Avery on her knees, swearing to me that she was telling the truth, was seared behind my eyelids. I saw her there when I closed my eyes.
I felt upset, but it wasn’t the rage I had felt earlier, when I had been so sure she had been lying to me.
Now I felt a cold trickle in my blood, like the frozen gush of winter’s thaw, when the glaciers sent icy rivulets through our forest. The sound of Avery’s cries as she pleaded with me pierced my heart with shards of ice.
Dierdra stretched out on the bed, tugging at my hands for me to join her. Reluctantly I lay back, but I didn’t take o
