She shook her head, and her jaw tightened. "It's nothing."
"Don't worry about it. I can eat what you prepared for Areana. It won't go to waste."
"It's not about the food," she whispered, and turned to face him. "I've been like a daughter to Areana for five thousand years," she said. "I took care of her. I brushed her hair and talked to her when she was sad. I was the one she confided in, the one she leaned on. But she doesn't need me anymore. She has her real sons to take care of her."
Esag understood the fear of being replaced, of becoming obsolete, of losing the role that had defined her for so long that she couldn't remember herself in any other role.
He put the plates he was carrying on a nearby table, took the one she was holding and put it aside as well, and then wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his chest. She came willingly, her forehead pressing against his shoulder as she fought to compose herself.
"You are irreplaceable, and Areana will always need you," he murmured against her hair. "You are the sister she chose, the daughter of her heart. That doesn't disappear just because her sons are with her now. She has enough room in her heart to love you all."
"You don't know that."
"I do." He pulled back just enough to cup her face in his hands, tilting it up so she had to meet his eyes. "Love isn't a finite resource. Having more people to love doesn't mean loving the existing ones less. Areana's heart is big enough for all of you. Besides, you have people caring about you, too. You're not alone anymore. Areana will always be important to you, but she's no longer your entire world."
Tula stared at him for a long moment, something shifting in her expression. Then she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him, soft and sweet and tasting faintly of salt.
"How did you get so wise?" she asked when they parted.
"Thousands of mistakes." He took her hand. "Come. Let's eat. You need to keep your strength up."
"For the baby?"
"For the baby. And for me." He grinned. "I have plans for you later that require copious amounts of energy and stamina."
Tula laughed. "You're incorrigible."
"I know. But you love me anyway."
She didn't say it back. She wasn't ready yet. But the adoring look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.
21
TONY
Tony stood in line at the buffet, watching Tula with Esag, and he felt his heart twist in his chest like a wrung-out dishrag.
She looked so happy. She had never looked that happy with him, not even before the pregnancy.
Her arm was wrapped around Esag's waist, and her hand was resting on the swell of her belly where his child grew.
His child.
The baby she was carrying was his, and yet she stood there wrapped around another male, like Tony meant nothing to her. He had been just the sperm donor.
Esag leaned down to whisper something in her ear, and Tula's face lit up with a smile that Tony had never once managed to coax from her.
She'd never looked at him like that.
The jealousy burned in his gut, hot and acidic, and he hated himself for feeling it. Tula had never promised him anything.She'd never claimed to love him, but she'd chosen him and had taken ownership of him. The other ladies hadn't dared to seduce him because they feared her. For a while, he'd mistaken that for love. But he should have known better.
Tula was territorial and possessive. She liked him, but she'd never loved him.
He'd known that.
He'd always known that.
Somewhere along the way, he'd let himself hope for more, and when she'd revealed her pregnancy, he'd let himself imagine that the child they'd created might be glue enough to hold them together.
