“What?” Trenton's face fell.
“I cannot break the bargain, or he might kill my sister.”
“Riley,” Trenton whispered. “We can go to Earth and protect your sister. There are ways around this.”
“Around an Unseelie Understanding?” I lifted a brow.
Trenton blanched. I had suspected as much. The bargain I had made with Drostan was unbreakable.
“I do love you,” I admitted. “And if you love me, you won't make this any harder for me. Please go, Trenton. Please. You know your own heart now too, and you'll find someone else that you can be yourself with.”
“All right, Riley.” Trenton swallowed roughly and nodded. “I'll go, but I'm not giving up on us. I'll find a way to break this bargain and protect your sister; I swear it.”
I nodded; I couldn't speak.
Trenton pulled me against his chest and kissed me passionately. He held my face between his palms as he eased out of our kiss, and stared at me for a long moment.
“You're wrong; there is no one else I can share my true self with, and no one who could ever replace you,” he said. “I have eternity to get you back, and I swear to the Goddess that I will. Keep your heart full of hope, Riley, and guard it well because it belongs to me.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Trenton and I came out of the sitting room together but with an obvious distance between us. He went to stand with his knights, and I went to stand behind Drostan's throne.
“It seems that my business here is concluded, King Drostan,” Trenton said with a glance my way.
Drostan nodded thoughtfully. “I thought it might be. Please convey my best wishes to your sister.”
“Of course,” Trenton said stiffly. He gave me a sad smile before he turned away and left the throne room.
Drostan waited till the doors had closed behind his guests before he stood. He took my hand and escorted me from the room; nodding to his guards as we passed them. He kept up his royal facade all the way to his chambers, and even calmly shut the door and locked it behind us.
“I've had the hidden passages sealed,” he said casually.
“So that Conall won't be able to use them again?”
“And so that you won't go searching for a way out,” he said softly.
“If I wanted to leave, I'd just leave,” I growled. “And I wouldn't have sent Trenton away.”
“You did that out of concern for your sister.” Drostan's jaw clenched.
“That was our bargain,” I reminded him. “You said that you'd kill her if I went back on it.”
Drostan's eyes widened, and if I hadn't known better, I would have thought that he was surprised by my words.
“I didn't mean that, Riley,” he said softly. “I wouldn't kill her.”
“Only take back the healing that you gave her.” I rolled my eyes. “That's nearly the same thing.”
“No,” he protested. “I wouldn't do that either. Instead, I'd rely on your honor to uphold our Understanding.”
“You're saying that if I left right now, you wouldn't take back the healing you gave my sister?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I couldn't take back her healing if I wanted to,” he said gently. “Magic, once given, is given for good. I'd have to kill her myself, and I would never kill an innocent woman because of the actions of another.”
“Then why'd you say that you would?”
“To make you more compliant.” He shrugged. “To prevent you from trying to escape. Riley, don't you think that I would have killed her already if that had been an option for me? I thought you had run away, and you were gone for weeks.”
