Gunnar’s POV

"It’s the truth."

"Really?" she laughed harshly. "So when you fucked me that day, you weren’t thinking about her?"

The question hit me hard because I knew exactly why she was asking it.

Wait, was she jealous or something?

Cane and Caden both looked at me silently, waiting for me to answer.

Riley’s eyes were full of anger and hurt at the same time.

I walked closer toward her slowly until I stopped directly in front of her.

"When I touched you," I said quietly, "I was thinking about you."

She stared at me silently.

"When I kissed you, I genuinely wanted you."

Her breathing slowed slightly.

"And when I slept with you, there was nobody else in my head except you."

Riley swallowed hard but her expression stayed stubborn.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I’m telling you the truth, I’m a straight forward person you should know that."

She shook her head. "You cared about Carian."

"I cared because I thought she died because of me," I answered honestly. "That guilt stayed with me for years."

"But you loved her."

"I never did."

That answer surprised even her.

I looked directly into her eyes. "I never loved Carian the way you think I did. None of us did"

Riley frowned deeply.

"Then why did you look so destroyed whenever her name came up?"

"Because I blamed myself for what happened to her."

Riley looked confused now.

"But none of that changes what we had for you."

The room became quiet again. Riley looked at me carefully like she was trying to figure out if I was lying.

Then I finally said the truth we should’ve told her a long time ago.

"We’ve known that you’re our mate even before Ethan married you."

Riley blinked slowly and looked back and forth between us. "What do you mean by that?"

I answered before anyone else could.

"I was first tied to you by fate before my brothers"

She frowned harder.

"I already knew you were my mate back when I used to visit Elyndorath alongside my Mom," Cane explained. "But while you were in crescent hollow and grew up to eighteen years, it turned out that my brothers were also mated to you"

Riley stared at me blankly.

"So you’re telling me you all were my mates and Ethan knew all these but still went ahead to marry me?"

Her mouth fell open slightly.

Nobody answered quickly enough.

Riley’s eyes widened. "Oh my God."

"There are too many things Ethan did to us, Riley," I said coldly.

She looked back at me.

"It wasn’t just because of how he treated you that we turned against him."

Riley frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"We used to be his closest friends remember?," Caden answered.

"I know that."

"But he betrayed us," I continued.

I looked straight at her. "He stole you from us and married you."

Riley stared at me in complete disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"We didn’t know how he found out about the bond before we did," Cane explained. "And he hid it from everyone."

Riley shook her head immediately."But why would he do that to his best friends?"

"Because he was obsessed with overtaking us in everything and Sebastian was eager to announce him as the next heir of Obsidian Veil alongside his dubious father Calistus," Caden answered bluntly.

Riley looked disturbed hearing that.

"So he wanted to use you," Caden continued. "And get to us, then he faked that he didn’t know about anything and just married a normal human female."

I folded my arms tightly while watching Riley process everything.

"When we wanted to get closer to you naturally because of the mate bond, Ethan noticed it somehow," I said. "That’s when everything between us got worse."

Riley looked confused."What do you mean?"

"He kept creating distance between you and us," Cane answered. "He controlled where you went, who you spoke to and how much time you spent around people until you got pregnant, I’m not wrong am I?"

Riley slowly lowered her eyes. I could already tell she remembered everything.

"Wasn’t that why he left you to run everything in the company, completely turning you into a workaholic so you would barely have time for yourself? Of course he knew you’d eventually feel the bond too," Caden added. "So that terrified him."

Riley looked back at us slowly.

"So all this time...You all have been stalking me in Crescent hollow"

"Well you were married to Ethan," Cane answered carefully. "Things were already complicated and your uncle could use him too"

Riley laughed weakly again.

"Complicated?" she repeated. "That’s the word you want to use?"

She turned away from us and covered her face briefly before dragging both hands through her hair roughly.

"My head hurts," she muttered.

I wanted to touch her. But I knew she’d probably pull away again.

Then suddenly she looked back at me. "So I want to get something straight, all the time you all touched me... was it because of the bond?"

No one answered.

"Thought as much," she snapped again. "One minute I’m finding out I’m some dead kingdom’s princess and the next minute I’m being told my husband stole me from his best friends because all of you are somehow magically connected to me right!"

Her voice cracked near the end. "I don’t even know what’s real anymore."

Caden suddenly walked closer to her "Do you want to know what really happened between us and Ethan?" he asked quietly.

Riley frowned in confusion.

Caden licked his lips slowly while holding her stare. "There’s a lot you still don’t know."

Riley looked between all of us cautiously now.

Caden’s expression darkened slightly. "Do you want the whole truth?"

Riley hesitated then finally nodded once.

Caden took another step closer toward her.

"Then let us show you." he said as he instantly pulled her to himself and guided her against the wall...

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