Pharis nodded. “He made me promise to take you out of here to safety… and leave him and your sisters behind.”
Gesturing toward the idyllic town, he said, “This is the perfect place for them, secluded, unknown to the King. I’ll make sure they have everything they need. I’ll leave them with enough money to last them the rest of their lives and give the girls huge dowries so the stupid human men won’t be deterred from marriage. They’ll be safer here than they would be traveling. You know that.”
He continued with his shocking proposal.
“The two of us can travel fast and light. We can go anywhere—or everywhere. I can take you to see all those places you want to see—the Drylands, the Silvery Mountains, the Cyan Sea. And when we’ve explored this continent we’ll move on to the next.”
I just shook my head repeatedly, my chin wagging back and forth. “But this is too big a sacrifice for you. What about your brother and sister? You’ll miss them. You love them more than anything.”
“Not more thananything.”
The look in his eyes made my heart flutter.
Drawing me against him, Pharis wrapped his arms around my back and pressed soft kisses to my forehead, my cheekbones, the tip of my nose.
“My siblings will be fine. Your family will be safe here in Havendor. And you’ll be safe with me, far from the Earthwife’s reach and from my father.”
My mind was whirling with the sudden turn of events—and from the realization that Pharis was offering to give up literally everything he held dear… for me.
He must have taken my hesitation to respond as a refusal because he threw in one more persuasive argument.
“It’ll be better for Stellon, too. Without you there for our father to hold over his head, my brother won’t be forced to do anything against his will.”
“He’s already been forced into marrying an Elven woman he doesn’t love,” I said morosely.
Pharis’ eyes darted away toward the waterfall. Apparently he didn’t like hearing my sympathy for Stellon. His gaze returned to meet mine.
“He wasalwaysgoing to do that,” he said. “You knew that. It’s his destiny as Crown Prince, and his sense of duty is too strong. He told me he knew the two of you were doomed from the start. I’m sure he misses you—gods, what man wouldn’t? But I know my brother. He’s always been the happy go lucky sort, like one of Mareth’s golden retrievers. He’ll get over it eventually and be happy again, especially once he has children, which is something he’s always wanted.”
I nodded, blinking back tears. “Right. And it’s undetermined whether I’d ever be able to give him children as a human—even if we were allowed to be together.”
Pharis gripped my waist, his expression fierce. “I don’t care about that. Andno onecares whetherIproduce heirs. You’ll be safe with me, Rae.”
He paused a long moment before asking, “But could you be happy with me?”
It seemed ludicrous he could even ask such a thing after all he’d done for me and my family, after those sweltering kisses we’d shared and the way our bodies had demonstrated we were beyond compatible.
After the sacrifices he was willing to make for me.
But I still had questions.
“I appreciate your generous offer, and I’m sure Papa and the girls will be safer staying here, especially considering there’s probably a bounty on my head now.”
The King might never stop looking for me. When I thought about it, it was obvious I was putting my family in danger by staying with them.
“They don’t really need me now that my father’s eyesight and health have been restored. My family will miss me, but I know they’ll be happy here.”
“But….” Pharis said in a leading tone. “You haven’t answered my question.”
Instead of answering it, I asked a question of my own.
“Couldyoureally be happy withme?”
He squinted in apparent confusion. “What do you mean? I just told you it’s what I want.”
“Traveling with a human fugitive will put a serious damper on your highly active love life,” I said. “Could you really be happy spending all your time with just one woman?”
A mortal one at that. One who could never give him children, which he might want someday in spite of his current insistence that he didn’t care about it.
