Chapter 68

                                    

                                          
this is the last chapter. ;(. I'll miss it. but check out the a/n if you want to hear some happy stuff about a possible sequel~?~
Emerald's POV
                          
We walked for a while. I couldn't tell how long we traveled for, but Damon was silent the entire time.
                          
Finally, he stopped walking. We were surrounded by trees, and the moon barely peeked through the leaves.
                          
Damon faced away from me, his posture rigid.
                          
He eventually faced me. His face was hard as steel, and his eyes pierced daggers into my heart.
                          
"You're hurt. Everyone expects you to be hurt. Nobody would leave the hell you went through perfectly fine. You're also wanting to stay strong. I get it. I know you never liked to be seen weak. But nobody forced you to answer any of the questions. Valery was drunk for goddess's sake. Jax was curious, but in no way was he demanding. So you made the choice to answer those questions, whether you admit it or not. And you reacting the way you did, hurting the people who love you, isn't okay." His eyes were black, but I knew he wouldn't shift or hurt me.
                          
"They were all staring at me like I was some exhibit in a museum! They've all been staring at me as if I'm going to breakdown any moment from the minute I came back! So don't tell me I wasn't pressured into answering, because I was." I growled back.
                          
Damon took a step back, pulling at his hair. "They are worried. I'm worried. Everyone in the pack is worried. You have not once cried, screamed, done anything to show that you were at all affected! You holding this all in, keeping all of these feelings pent up, is going to result in some sort of breakdown. We love you. We don't want to see you hurt. But now I'm clearly back to square one with you. You won't let anyone in, and that's hurting everyone. Including you."
                          
I glared at him. "You think you know everything about me, don't you? Clearly you didn't know about the stairs incident, or about why I had to lose weight, or about anything that went on there! Just stop acting like you can fix me, because I don't even know if I want that." I snapped. I knew I would regret these words later, and they physically hurt to say, but I was hurting myself.
                          
Damon looked at me as if he didn't even recognize me. He shook his head, and he laughed a hollow laugh. 
                          
"It's funny. Tonight was supposed to be special, Emerald. Tonight was supposed to be memorable." He laughed as if this was funny. This made me even angrier.
                          
I stared at him, the moon barely illuminating his face. "Oh, I'm sure I'll remember tonight." 
                          
His eyes snapped back to mine. "Tonight was supposed to be a happy one, darling. I was supposed to give you this." He hissed, and he tossed something to me.
                          
I barely caught it. It was soft. I looked down at it. It was a velvet box.
                          
I covered my mouth with my hand, tears forming in my eyes. I hesitantly opened the small box.
                          
I sobbed when I saw the diamond ring. It was so beautiful, with one large square diamond in the middle, surrounded by little emeralds and a simple gold band.
                          
"I know. What a stupid idea, right? We'll probably reject each other before the end of the week. But that's okay, right? You just want to hurt anyone who wants to get close to you. And we were supposed to be a successful King and queen." He stated up at the sky, his last comment coming out bitterly.