Sitting up, he shoved his fingers through his hair, slipping the bun free, and she couldn’t help but smile when it tumbled across his shoulders.
Rumpel was a male Venus de Milo. How many hearts had he broken, even unwittingly?
“Because that is my life. I am an exiled prince and there are…” His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed as he stared straight ahead.
The coliseum was situated on the flat slope of a tall mountain. The heavens stretched out before them and the clouds were a pale orange as the sun began to set.
“There are things that I cannot speak to you about. That I want to with every fiber of my being.” He looked at her. “But you still have one test left.”
“I do not like those tests,” she finally admitted it to him. “I’ve tried to be brave and not show you what I feel, but I hate the games. What they make me feel afterward. Even knowing it’s not real, my senses are so drugged, so involved, that I cannot separate fact from fiction. Why must I continue to play?”
His eyes grew hooded. “It is not so simple an explanation. The games have begun and so they must end.” His breath shuddered and she sensed that he grappled with this. “Tell me, what would you do to save the life of someone you loved?”
Her heart raced—she’d gotten her first real clue. “Is that what this is about? To save a life? Is that why I’m here?”
He didn’t answer.
Licking her lips, she spoke from the heart. “Rumpel, whatever it is that you need from me, I would do it.”
“But you do not know what is even required, and what if at this point I’m not sure I’m willing to allow it anymore?”
“Are you willing to allow it?”
A robin sang a sweet melody as crickets chirped, and the air was alive with the scent of life. The sun was warm upon her face and for the first time she felt hope, a sense of purpose even.
“You must face the final challenge.” He looked over her shoulder. “And then judgment will be passed.”
“I do not like the sound of that.”
His lashes fluttered and he looked like a man torn apart. Swallowing, he whispered, “I will make this right, somehow. Do not worry anymore.”
“How can I not?”
“Because…” He scraped a hand down his jaw. “You are worth it. Now let us talk of other matters. What do you think of Genesis, is she not amazing?” And she could feel the words were forced, far more jovial than he actually felt.
Shayera wasn’t sure she was ready to change the subject, but neither did she want to linger on this. She’d spent three weeks locked away in her room, and now the man she’d craved the entire time was here and he was being true to his word. A girl couldn’t get any luckier than that.
“She is amazing. If I didn’t know any better I’d think her alive.”
He chuckled. “She was once. Hundreds of years ago.”
“Really?” Her eyes widened. “What did that poor girl ever do to deserve this fate?”
Lifting his brows, he pointed at the bike. “It was her request. She believed herself desperately in love with me and wished never to be parted from my side. She’s evolved many times in her life since. First a horse, then a car, now a bike.”
Turning to stare at the gleaming chrome, Shayera shook her head. “But did she really intend this fate? Why not keep her as a woman?”
His grin was cocky as he said, “Because in her own words, she wished me to ride her for the rest of her days.”
Covering her mouth with her hand to stifle a scandalous snort, Shayera said, “Okay then. But I’m still certain she did not mean to be nothing more than a pile of metal.”
“I do not keep her bound to me. She is here of her own free will. Her soul is still very much alive in there, and she knows that I will return her to her old form if ever she wants it. But seeing as how I’d taken no lovers since entering Kingdom”—he glanced at her from the corner of her eye—“then that would mean she would be parted from me. I like her more this way and I’m sure she feels the same.”
The truth of that statement hit her like a fist to the stomach. “You take no lovers?”
“I’ve taken none since entering Kingdom, save you.”
And here she’d believed that she’d been the only one as deeply affected because of her limited exposure to men. “Wh…”
She wasn’t even sure what she’d meant to say there.
“Because you’re you.” He smiled. “You do not fear me. You do not act coy, or childish, or try to manipulate me with your charms, though you certainly could. You are simply yourself and I like it, Shayera Caron. A lot.”
Chapter Fifteen
Another month had passed since that day in faux Athens and as time passed, the two of them grew closer.
And while that elated Rumpel, it also worried him. He’d made a vow, to both Euralis and Shayera, vows he meant to keep.
But how?
How could he keep one without breaking faith with the other?