She paused. "You can ask, but I can't promise I'll answer."
"Are you allowed to go on dates? I mean, is that something you're permitted to do, or..." He trailed off, suddenly aware of how absurd that sounded. They were both captives. What kind of a date could they possibly have on this island?
Mattie stared at him, her expression frozen somewhere between surprise, confusion, and indecision.
Silence stretched between them.
"It's okay," he said. "I understand if you can't, or if you don't want to. I shouldn't have asked."
"No," Mattie interrupted. "It wasn't. I just..." She glanced around the bar, checking for listeners, then looked back at him. "Let me think about it."
"Of course. Take all the time you need." Dimitri was already regretting the question, already imagining the awkwardness of future encounters, already cataloging all the ways this was making her uncomfortable.
8
MATTIE
Mattie carried the tray of empty glasses back to the bar, her mind spinning so fast she almost stumbled over her own feet.
Dimitri had asked her on a date.
On this island, where freedom was a joke, and women were commodities, and the only romance was transactional.
But she wasn't looking for romance. She was only looking for information.
So why was her heart racing? It wasn't because of fear or anxiety but because of…what?
Hope?
Stupid, dangerous hope that she couldn't afford and shouldn't entertain.
She set the tray down at the bar a little less carefully than she should have, earning a raised eyebrow from the bartender.
"Careful with those," Anil said. "You don't want them to break."
"Sorry."
"You look flustered. Did they give you trouble?" He pointed with his chin toward a group of immortals.
"I can handle them."
Even if she couldn't deflect the immortals' advances, Anil couldn't help her, but she saw no point in reminding him that he was human and just as helpless as she was. Well, not entirely as helpless because he didn't need to fear violation.
Or did he?
Not all males favored women, and aggressors didn't discriminate between those they aggressed on. It happened to men, too, but less so.
"You'll tell me if they cross the line, right?"
She cast him a smile. "It's okay, Anil. We are all in the same boat."
He snorted. "I wish we were, darling. I wish we were sailing into the horizon to live happily ever after somewhere else."
It was a dangerous thing to say out loud, but the music was playing, and no one was sitting at the bar, so perhaps it was safe.
Chuckling, she finished unloading the dirty glasses and returned to taking orders while avoiding getting too close to Dimitri's table.
She needed to give him an answer, but she didn't have one yet. The problem wasn't whether she wanted to go on a date with him or not; it was the how, when, and where.
