"What?" he asked.
"Nothing." She walked into his arms, pressing her cheek against his chest. "You did magnificently. I was worried you would act all territorial, thumping your chest and all that."
"I have no reason to be territorial." He kissed the top of her head. "You're mine, and I'm not afraid of anyone stealing you away because I know you won't let anyone steal you. That's all that matters."
"He brought Shira over to make me jealous, you know."
"I thought he brought her over for the same reason that I strutted like a peacock after my induction ceremony. I did it so as not to feel humiliated."
"Makes sense." She pulled back a little. "I hope the transition works for Tony. For our son's sake. I want his father to be around for much longer than one human lifespan."
29
TULA
If Tony had hoped that parading his new girlfriend in front of her was going to make her jealous, he had achieved the exact opposite.
He'd freed her.
Now that Tula was no longer riddled with guilt over ending things with him, she felt lighter, more open, and happier. She could finally be with Esag with no reservations.
"Shira is perfect for Tony," she said. "She's bright and cheerful, and she doesn't take herself too seriously. She's exactly what he needs after the storm that was me."
Esag frowned. "Why do you refer to yourself as a storm? To me, you are pure sunshine."
He was so sweet.
She lifted her hand to cup his face. "I'm sunshine to you because you make me happy. I was moody and angry with Tony, which wasn't fair to him. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't you."
A smile lifted one corner of Esag's mouth. "I make you happy?"
"Yes." She lifted on her toes and kissed his lips. "And you keep me satisfied, which is not easy. I'm a very demanding, difficult female."
"You're not difficult." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Demanding, definitely, but I'm happy to oblige."
"You're so good to me," she said softly. "Tony will always be part of my life because of our son, but you are the one I want to spend eternity with."
His eyes started glowing, and she watched as the wariness in his eyes was replaced by hope. It struck her suddenly how unfair she'd been to him, accepting his love and basking in his devotion while holding back the words he so clearly needed to hear.
She'd been afraid. Afraid of making a mistake because of their complicated history, of not knowing what love was, and of her precarious situation. But she was not a coward, and it was time for her to own up to her feelings.
Esag wasn't Tony, with his quiet neediness and his inability to truly connect with her. He wasn't the parade of forgettable men who had drifted through her life in the harem, placeholders for a love that could never come.
Esag was the one she'd been waiting for, and she'd wasted too long hating him for hurting her sister's feelings, and for a thousand other things that had been out of his control.
Perhaps she'd hated him so much because she'd fancied him even then. Even as a girl, she'd noticed how handsome he was, how bright his smile was, and how quick he was to laugh. He'd changed, and he wasn't as cheerful now as he used to be, but she had a feeling that she would be able to peel away that layer ofsadness and uncover the sunny underlayer she still remembered so well.
"I love you," she said.
The words came out easier than she'd expected, with none of the struggle she'd anticipated. It was a simple statement of fact.
Esag went very still.
"You love me?"
"Yes." She smiled. "I love you." She said it again, stronger this time, watching the way his eyes widened, the way his breath stopped, the way his whole body seemed to lean toward her like a flower toward the sun. "I love you, and I think that I've always been a little in love with you. Sometimes the line between love and hate is blurred. I'm just glad I didn't realize it until now because loving you and missing you for five millennia would have been intolerable."
He swallowed. "I can't say the same to you because it would sound obscene. You were twelve, and I thought of you as the kid sister of the girl I fancied. But I liked you a lot and admired your spunk. Then you appeared to me in a vision, and you were all grown up and breathtakingly beautiful. The spark was ignited right there and then, even though I hadn't realized it at first."
