“Me too.”
He tried to catch her gaze, but her eyes went anywhere but him. It was like a dagger to his heart that she wouldn’t look at him. “I was about to take your body to your family.”
“I’d like to see them.”
“Of course.”
“Can we leave now?”
Rhys nodded, unable to find any words his throat was so swollen with emotions. The fact she was so anxious to leave wasn’t a good sign. “Lily, please,” he begged when she turned her head away. “I thought I’d lost you forever. Talk to me, please. How are you here?”
She blew out a breath. “I was dead. I was shot by my brother and died.”
It was like being stabbed with each word she spoke. But Rhys would gladly listen to anything she had to say because she was talking to him.
“I ended up in a place I can only describe as purgatory. That’s when he came to me.”
That got Rhys’s attention. “He?”
“Yes.” Lily looked back down at her hands. “He offered to bring me back.”
“In exchange for what?”
She shrugged. “He never asked for anything.”
“Who was this man?”
“I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. He gave me a second chance at life.”
Rhys shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it aside. He’d worn it for Lily and her family, but it felt too restrictive now. “For that, I’ll be eternally grateful to him, but I’ve learned with such gifts there are consequences.”
Finally she lifted her gaze to his. He stared into her bottomless black eyes. “Kyle and Dennis were coming for me. I saw them. The man told me how a soul could be killed and never return in another life.”
“In all of my endless years of life, I’ve never been as happy as I am to be talking with you.”
She didn’t return his smile.
Rhys rubbed his jaw and felt all of his hope and happiness slipping through his fingers like the sands of time. “You must know I never expected Dennis to keep you with him. We brought Kyle here so we could break whatever hold Dennis had over him.”
Lily held up her hand to stop him. “You couldn’t think of everything, Rhys. I don’t blame you for what happened with Kyle. That lies with me. Had I spoken with my parents, I might have guessed he’d changed.”
“You were supposed to be safe on Dreagan.”
“Is anyone really safe here?” she asked softly. “You have many enemies. This won’t be the last time something happens when it involves the Dragon Kings.”
Rhys dropped his chin to his chest. “It’s too much for you, is it no’?”
“I died!”
It was her first real show of emotion, and it made him cringe. He lifted his gaze to her and winced when he saw the despair on her face.
“I was dead,” she repeated in a hard tone. “All I wanted was to finally be happy. I thought I’d found that with you, but you’re immortal, for the love of God. You’re a Dragon King. And I’m just a mortal.”
He’d had all he could take. Rhys took the three steps separating them and grasped her arms. It felt so good to feel her warmth again that it nearly brought him to his knees.
“You knew what kind of man I was from the beginning,” he told her. “You saw everything bad about me. Then you showed me a part of yourself you kept secret. You let me in when I didna want it.”
Rhys swallowed and licked his lips. “You scare me. You always have. From the moment you arrived at Dreagan all I’ve done is think of you. You fill my thoughts constantly. It was you I turned to in my darkest hours after Ireland. It was the verra thought of you that pulled me through it all.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but he wasn’t going to stop.
“I knew in Edinburgh that I was wholly under your spell. It wasna when we made love, but before when you smiled at me. I quit pretending you didna affect me. And I admitted then what I knew to be truth—you’re meant to be mine.”
“Stop. Please,” she said, freely crying now. “I can’t be what you need.”
Rhys cupped her face. “Ah, sweetheart. You’re what I need just standing there. I love you. I’ve never spoken those words to another woman before, and I’ll never speak them to anyone else. I love you, Lily Ross. Whether you remain with me or leave, I will always love you.”
She ducked her head, her shoulders shaking.
“I’ll never give up on you. Never,” he whispered as he kissed the top of her head. He tilted her face up to his. “One day I’ll convince you that we’re meant to be together. One day I’ll make you fall in love with me.”
She shook her head.
He held her gaze, sinking into the dark depths. “Aye. I’ll prove I can be a good man. I’ll prove that you can depend on me and that I’ll keep you safe. I doona care how many years it takes. I’ll show you my love, and then perhaps you’ll love me.”
She sniffed. “It’s too late.”
Rhys parted his lips, but he no longer knew what to say. She couldn’t be lost to him.