“Yes.” She turned to face him. He was wearing a thick gray Henley, jeans, boots, and a dark jacket. And standing before her in the moonlight with his blond hair mussed and that sexy scruff on his jaw, her heart did a little flip. Then dropped into the pit of her stomach all over again because, as much as she wanted him, she couldn’t have him. Never again.
She pushed aside the hurt. His confused expression said he’d obviously heard the stories. But knowing Demetrius was his brother, of course he’d have heard them all.
“My mother was Andromeda, the queen of Argolea. She left the king, came here, and started over. With my father’s help. They were never bound, not legally at least, but the witches didn’t care. They took them in as their own, gave them a place to live, and in return, my parents helped hundreds of other refugees who were persecuted or banished by the monarchy and the Council for different reasons.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, rubbed the chill at her arms, and looked down at the asphodel all around her feet. Life from death. She hoped that was true, because her life seemed to be filled with nothing but misery.
“I was born a few years later. I grew up with two parents who loved each other more than life itself. They didn’t have much, but they had each other. And that was all that mattered. Until the Council’s spies discovered the queen was living in Kyrenia and who she was with. They claimed it was the witches they were trying to eradicate, but it wasn’t. It was her and the former Council member she’d left with. The one who’d defied them. And the king knew. He gave his permission. He sat back and did nothing as his wife was murdered.”
“Gods.” Nick rubbed a hand over his face. “Isadora is your sister. I knew your eyes were familiar. I even noticed it tonight.”
A wave of betrayal and hurt rushed through Cynna. She didn’t want to think of him with Isadora tonight. Didn’t want the image of what they’d done together anywhere in her mind. She turned away and stalked across the field, back toward the ruins of her parents’ house. “Half sister. And now you know why I hate her so much.”
“Because her father took everything from you.”
Her feet stilled. He was behind her. Close, but not too close. And her heart pounded hard with the desire to touch him and the need to push him away. “Yes,” she whispered. “And like father, like daughter, she’s doing it again. Which is why I need you to go and never follow me again.” Her throat grew thick. “I know revenge isn’t the answer anymore, but I can’t…be around you. Not after all this. It’s too much.”
She stepped forward, desperate to get away from him.
“I didn’t sleep with her.”
She stopped, sure she had to have imagined those words.
“I couldn’t,” he said softly. “Because my heart belongs to you.”
Cynna’s pulse sped up until it was a whir in her ears, and wide-eyed, she turned to face him.
“I love you, Cynna.” He moved toward her. “Not because the gods say I should. Not because some curse tells me to. I love you because I choose to.”
He stopped inches away, and her stomach tightened, her head felt light. She was too afraid to speak, too afraid any kind of sound would wake her and prove this was a dream and not reality.
His fingers brushed the hair away from her temple. “And because you’re the only person in my life who’s never wanted anything from me except me.”
“I…” She swallowed hard. This wasn’t a dream. He was standing here. Looking down at her in the moonlight like she was…everything. Her skin grew hot. “What about Isadora?”
Sadness crept into his amber eyes, and he trailed his finger down her cheek until she trembled. “I don’t know. I can’t change the soul mate pull. I’ll always feel the need to help her if I can. But being with her like that is not the answer.”
He lifted his other hand to her face, cradling her jaw in his big palms. And his eyes grew so soft and dreamy as he gazed down at her, her heart burst to life in her chest. “You’re my answer, though. To every struggle, every heartache, every question I was too afraid to ask. You’ve drawn me back from the edge so many times, not because you have some magical quality but because you understand me. No one, not in two hundred years, has ever cared for me the way you do. Because of you, I know I can fight the darkness inside and win. All I have to do is think of you, and I’m free.”
He shifted closer until his body brushed hers, and his heat seeped into her skin, making her ache, not with loss this time, but with…hope. “I want to be that same answer for you. I know your life has been filled with pain and darkness, but I can be your balance the way you’ve been mine. If it takes my whole life, Cynna, through all of eternity, I promise to be that and more for you.”
Tears burned. Tears she couldn’t hold back. She closed her eyes as the first droplet slid down her cheek. “You big jerk. You already are.”