“What are you saying?” I asked.
“I’m saying…”
“I love you,” I repeated. “I loveyou.”
“You love the idea of me. Your Knight. Your Sword. Your Willem.”
“That’s not true,” I begged. “I was in love with you when I believed you were an arrogant swordsmastering rake, and youknowit! Do not rewrite history to justify how you wound me now.”
He searched my face.
“I willnotbear his children. I don’t care if they hang me for it. I will not havesexwith him. Not willingly. Wed or not. I will find a way out of it. I will.”
“You can’t.”
“Run away with me,” I said. “Leave. You’ve disappeared before. Vanish again with me now. We’ll have our own family. I’ll take your name. Whatever name you choose for us.”
“It is yourdutyto produce a royal heir, and you, yourself, confessed how important duty is to who you are. I should rob you of that? Rob Oreia and Chalke of their peace? Of their Princess? Their future?”
“Leaving me robsmeof much more, I assure you.”
He made an angry, frustrated sound, turning from me. “I cannot share you with him,” he said. “I thought I would be able to handle it, but now that he wants it to work, I… I can’t hurt him. This has to end.”
I gasped as if I’d be stabbed. “Tell me you don’t love me,” I said.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Youknowwhy,” he said.
“I don’t knowanythingbecause you won’tsayanything,” I said. “Tell me you hate me!”
“I don’t hate you.”
“Say it!”I demanded.
“No.”
“Then tell me you love me. Tell me so I don’t have to guess if you feel this or if I’m simply losing my mind. That I’m not a fool for thinking this meant more than just sex.”
“If I say it, it’s real,” he said.
“It’s real regardless,” I said. I brought him toward me. “This right here? Us? We’re real. Now. Make a decision, Willem. Why can you not see me with Sameer?”
“I can’t see you with him because… because I love you.”
I blinked happy tears. He wiped them free.
“Please don’t cry,”he whispered.“I’m so sorry. I’m just so upset. I’m so scared. Please. I’m sorry.”
“I love you, Willem,” I breathed. “There isnothingI would not do for you, even die. If you ask me to run away, I will. Ask me. I will never lose you again.”
“I can’t hurt you like that,” he said. “I love you for who you are, and you are Svana Eisson. You’re our empire’s salvation. Stealing you for myself risks war and I’ve seen what war does to people. I cannot let it hurt anyone else.”
“We can make this work,” I told him.
He nodded, but he wasn’t sure. I could see it. “He, uh, he asked me to stand as his witness. His best man at the altar.”
