I moved toward him, slowly this time. “The goddess gave you me.”
Xander held his hand up. “I swore to my sister that I would keep you safe from me.”
“I’m not in danger from you,” I said with a smile, lacing my fingers through his.
“You are in the worst kind of danger from me.” There was a dark roughness in his voice that excited me. “I would ruin every vow you’ve ever made at the first opportunity with no regard for anything else.”
That sent shivers of delight through me. Excellent. We had the same end goal. I moved even closer. He stayed still. Perhaps he’d decided it was undignified to run from me.
Or he was going to give in.
“We have done this dance before,” he said.
“Yes, but we’ve never finished all the steps. We always leave while the music is still playing. Let’s stay to the end.”
“Your vows,” he reminded me.
I leaned forward to kiss one of his fingers. “Aren’t you the one who always calls me an oath-breaker? That night of the festival, you told me vows were made to be broken.”
“Because I wanted you to break yours. Being with you makes me forget everything else, including things that are important to me. It was another reason I had to send you away—not only because I knew you’d regret it, but so would I, for being the one who convinced you to go against your word.”
“I won’t regret this. I want to.”
He swallowed, hard. “Lust is not enough of a reason to go against your vow. And I won’t do to you what my father—” He suddenly stopped and then pulled his hand away.
It wasn’t just lust for me. I didn’t know how to tell him that, though. Would he even believe me? I was fairly set on making this happen, andhe would be right not to trust my word. I suspected I would resort to lying to get what I wanted.
“I want the real reason,” he said. “Tell me why you’re doing this after we agreed that we couldn’t.”
His gaze had been so careful the whole time I’d been in the pool. He kept it on my face, not letting it slip down.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t manage to do the same. He was so glorious it made me want to weep. “I don’t want you to die.”
“I don’t want me to die, either,” he said. “And I suppose it means we’re making headway if you’re no longer salivating over my impending death.”
No, I had new things to salivate over.
And if I wanted to be pressed against any of it, I had to tell him the truth. “The physical link between us ... there is a way to break it. Io found it in a medical text. If we have sex, it destroys the link.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” He didn’t sound upset. His question was more probing, as if he already knew the answer.
“I’ve already told you, because the trust between us hasn’t been strong and—”
“No,” he cut me off. “That’s not why. You didn’t tell me because you thought I would use that as an excuse to bed you. And that wasn’t how you wanted things to be between us.”
My heart had kept up a strong and slightly fast rhythm since I’d entered the pool, but his words made it beat twice as fast. I couldn’t deny what he was saying.
“You wanted it to be a choice.” Again, his words were far too precise and accurate. “Our choice.”
Then he surprised me by reaching for me. He pulled me to his chest and I was giddy to be touching him like this. So, so close, and he felt incredible. It had been far too long since we’d last done this. Skin on skin. I wanted to slide sensuously against him, feel that delicious friction again.
His lips hovered just above mine, not touching. I tingled with anticipation and longing.
“We can’t,” he said. “We won’t.”
“You don’t understand,” I told him. “I have seen a vision of my death. I’m going to die. And I can’t bear the thought of you dying because we’re connected. Ilion needs you. I—”
I stopped myself before I finished that sentence. I couldn’t tell him how much I needed him. How important he’d become to me. It was a step too far.
