Chapter 53

Levi

“Levi, I’m rejecting you as my mate.”

The words escape Arya’s mouth but they don’t land on me like they should. They seem to be floating midair, whirling around my head and refusing to get registered in my brain.

I just . . . refuse to accept that.

“What?” I whisper. My voice is barely there. I don’t think I can speak any louder. I feel like I’m withering inside and denial is the only thing that can stop it, or at least slow it down for now. “What did you say?”

Arya sighs and stares at me. Her eyes are bright and patient, and I can’t see any trace of negative feelings in there. All I can see is acceptance and the willingness to let go.

“I can’t continue doing this with you,” she says, her voice soft and mellow. “For months I thought about when we would meet each other again, and early on, I thought I would crawl back to you and ask you to take me back. But now I realize that I’m happy. And I wouldn’t have been happy if you didn’t break my heart that night. I want to thank you.”

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