Lingering Ties and Bitter Encounters

POV: MAEVE

My mind violently whirled in pure bemusement. For a few agonizing seconds, the garden around us lost all its color and sound. I just stared at his rigid posture, utterly unable to process his absolute audacity.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" I demanded, my face twisting in a mix of disbelief and disgust.

"You heard me," Cormac declared, his chest puffing up with a sickening, unearn