Page 36 of Face Off

“You’re a terrible maid of honor.”

“I’m an exceptional maid of honor. I document everything. You are a horrible maid of honor for almost murdering six thousand pounds of silk and taffeta.”

Charm made a disgusted sound. “Say taffeta again and I’ll make sure you get demoted to bridesmaid.

Both girls start laughing completely blind to us in the back of the library when Charm turned—and saw me.

Everything inside me pulled tight.

She wore black high-waisted trousers that followed the fuller curve of her hips and a fitted halter top that left her shoulders bare. Her hair fell in loose waves down her back, and the heels she nearly killed herself in made her legs look longer than I remembered.

She was fuller than the woman I left in Kimball Falls. Softness had returned to her cheeks, her breasts, her hips, and every curve she had once punished herself for possessing. She looked fed, rested, and alive.

The change reached deeper than weight.

She no longer folded herself inward like taking up space required an apology. Her shoulders rested naturally. Her chin remained level. She had rushed into a room full of people, stumbled in front of them, and recovered without checking who noticed or letting embarrassment swallow her. When the castle employee asked where she wanted the dress form, Charm answered without softening her expertise into a suggestion.

“Beside the table, please. The garment bag stays closed until Cade is gone, and nobody touches the zipper except me.”

Cade lifted both hands. “I wasn’t going to touch it.”

“You have the impulse control of a toddler whenever Bliss tells you something is a surprise.”

“That feels exaggerated.”

Their voices continued around me, but Charm’s attention had already found mine.

She stopped beside the table with the garment bag held against her body. Her chest rose beneath one controlled breath, and for half a second, I saw the nerves she had learned to carry without letting them control her.

She didn’t lower her eyes. She didn’t look toward Aura for rescue or hide behind the employee waiting beside her.

She faced me.

I had spent the last fifteen months imagining this moment. In some versions, time had erased everything. In others, I saw her and every piece of rage returned. On the worst nights, she ran into my arms, and I forgot why loving her had nearly destroyed me.

Charm didn’t run to me anymore than I forgot why loving her destroyed me.

I had spent months in mandatory therapy learning that anger could exhaust itself without taking grief with it. I no longer wanted to punish her. I didn’t want her sick, starving, afraid, or trapped beneath the people who taught her that love had to be earned.

I wanted exactly what stood in front of me.

Charm healthy. Charm confident. Charm belonging to herself.

Seeing her that way hurt so badly that I had to lock my knees.

Her gaze moved over my face as though she was searching for what fifteen months had changed and what they hadn’t. The garment bag shifted slightly against her arm before she steadied it.

“Ryan.”

Hearing my name in her voice tightened every scar she left behind. I gave her a single nod because it was all I had.

I stood and looked at Cade. “Thank you for the tie bar.”

His attention moved between Charm and me. “Yeah. Anytime.”

I walked toward the door.

“Even for the sake of our friends, you can’t be in the same room as me?”