I nodded. “I agree. Perhaps they have even more conjurors. It might be helpful in what is coming.” I looked at Erik. Ultimately, these were Lysians on his lands, the final decision was his.
“We will talk to them and see where that takes us,” he said and I offered him a small smile.
Iver leaned back with a grin. “Edmond is going to just love this idea.”
“Edmond is not King,” Kole grumbled.
“He has been playing King back home while Erik has been staying in the Bavadrin lands,” Iver replied.
“Playing at King and being King are not the same.” Kole leveled his stare at Iver.
“Right.” I took the attention of the small gathering. “If there is nothing else, I need to speak to Erik alone, please.”
“Lovely, I am famished.” Iver stood, setting his sights on the one he didn’t seem capable of looking away from for very long. “Sparrow, you want to come grab a bite?”
Kiora gave him a side eye as she moved towards the exit. “Not with you,” she said cooly.
“What about a bite of me, then?” He grinned, following her out as she groaned in reply.
The others filed out behind them without nearly as much flourish till it was just the Lysian King and me left.
Erik remained seated across from me, his posture exuding a quiet but undeniable authority that made my muscles tense involuntarily. The room seemed to buzz with his presence, the air thickening as if charged with electricity. With everyone else gone, the intensity of his presence seemed to amplify.
His stare bore into me, holding a weight that felt almost physical, heavy enough to make my knees tremble. I could feel the force of his gaze like a touch, sending shivers skittering down my spine. It was as if he could see straight through me, unraveling my thoughts and desires with just a look.
In a feeble attempt to regain my composure, I rubbed my lips together, feeling the dryness there. His sapphire eyes flickered down to my mouth, and I was acutely aware of his gaze tracing the movement. A rush of heat flooded my cheeks as his eyes lingered, my heart pounding erratically in my chest. When his gaze returned to mine, I found myself captured by those piercing eyes once more. A small, knowing smile curved on his lips. He knew the effect he had.
I needed to get this out before just sitting across from himturned my mind to mush. Before I could do nothing other than crawl across the table to him. “There is something I need to tell you, and I have no idea how you will take it. My guess would be not well.”
The delicious curl of his lips vanished. “Does anyone else know whatever this is?”
“I don’t think anyone on this side of the border knows yet.”
He nodded.
Spirit, how was I supposed to say this? My stomach twisted with nausea. “I need to try and get this out, so please just listen.”
He waved his hand across the room. “The floor is yours, Ariana.”
I drew in a breath, steadying myself before I began. “Around the time when you all breached the Sidhe city, I saw a painting. It was hundreds of years old, one of Clause and his mate. She looks exactly like I do, apart from my ears. He said that I was the reincarnation of his mate. That he and I were destined for one another, that our blood sings for each other. This is why I have this unexplained pull towards him.” As I spoke, Erik was completely still. His face portrayed nothing. “When I saw the Spirit at my ascension, they told me I wasthecurse. I think I was reincarnated to be his downfall because he doesn’t let anyone close, except for me.” I paused there, not knowing what more to say.
“Why does he not also assume you are the curse to be his downfall?” Even Erik’s tone portrayed nothing of what he was thinking or feeling. It was a bit terrifying.
“He says the wording of the original treaty cannot be confirmed, that it was just passed down by word of mouth. What’s to say that it was not a curse, but a gift, that the breakerof it would receive from the Spirit? But I saw andspoketo the Spirit. They told me I was a curse.”
The Lysian King held my stare as he considered my words. “What do you feel for him?” The question sent an uncomfortable chill through me.
If I were a Lysian, I might have barred my teeth at him. “You know what he made me do.” The temperature of the room plummeted.
The hard look in Erik’s eyes softened. “I just need to hear it.”
“It would be a lie if I did not say that it saddens me that he has turned into the person he now is. He is lonely. He says he loves me but I do not think he knows what love is any longer. He wants to break me, to change me. There is nothing in my heart but aversion for him. I reject him. He is not my mate, even if I am some reincarnation of her. I do not want him.”
He swallowed, tension barely leaving his shoulders. “But you are still drawn to him?”
I forced another deep breath, keeping the fear away. Whether Erik rejected me for what I was about to say, would not sway my response. I would be honest with him. He deserved to know everything. “My body seems to easily react to him. Like there’s some messed up control he has over my blood.”
“But your heart wants nothing to do with him?” Erik remained rigid, sitting before me.
