She drew back from him. “Do not ever make the mistake of thinking me weak or in need of pity.”
“I don’t,” he insisted. “You are the strongest, most extraordinary woman I’ll ever know. I’ve meant every word I’ve said to you, Selene. I’m amazed by you, and I hate like hell that I’ve hurt you. Don’t you understand? I’ve been falling in love with you from the start.”
“No.” She shook her head in denial, in fear of how deeply she wanted to believe him. It was too late for that, no matter how much it pained her to push him away. “How dare you say that to me now?”
“Because it’s true. All my life, the only thing that mattered to me was my family and the Order. Then I came here. I met you.” He reached out to her but she pulled away, putting needed distance between them. “Everything I thought I knew about you was wrong, Selene. And I’ve never been more glad to be proven wrong.”
She exhaled sharply. “You made me believe I could trust you, even that day in my garden . . . right before you fucked me then stole that box as soon as my back was turned.”
He released a harsh curse. “It wasn’t like that. Not for me. You were the one who shut me out, just like you’re trying to do now.”
“How convenient for you then,” she replied, scoffing. “It must have been an enormous burden lifted off your sterling sense of honor as you plotted to take the crystal, not only from me but from my people.”
“I came here with a duty to uphold,” he said tersely. “But that all changed once I got to know you.”
Selene held firm to her rage. She had to. Tonight made one thing clear to her. She was not simply a woman who could give her heart freely, foolishly, to a man who could break it. She was a queen with a responsibility to her people.
“You had your duty to uphold,” she said. “And I have mine for my people, however fewer remain as of tonight. I still have to protect them, and our crystal.”
“You can’t do that alone, Selene. I swear to you the Order had nothing to do with what happened to the colony. You told me yourself only two crystals can breach the veil. Selene, it had to be the Ancient. He found the colony.”
In her heart, she knew he was right. Still, it staggered her to have her worst fear confirmed by Darion’s grim logic. “How could he have found it?”
“He must’ve siphoned the information from the colony search party he slaughtered in the Deadlands.”
She didn’t want to picture the brutality of that attack. “He killed Taebris’s team too.”
Darion nodded. “And that means it won’t be long before he comes for the realm.”
Although the dread of that possibility had been clinging to her before he said it, hearing Darion put it into words sent a river of ice through her veins. She turned away from him to quickly slip into her gown.
“I have to prepare my people,” she murmured.
“Let me help,” Darion said, drawing her attention back to him. “I’ll go to D.C. and I’ll bring the Order’s crystal to you.”
Hope blossomed in her breast, but what if he didn’t mean it? Or what if he did, but the Order refused to give up their crystal? She couldn’t pin her hopes--her people’s survival--on promises Darion might not be able to keep.
Either way, it wasn’t enough. If her enemy had the colony’s crystal in addition to the pair already in his possession, two would not defend her against him for long. She would need an army--one far greater in number than her legion, though skilled as they were.
The battle for the realm was likely already lost even before it began.
But she intended to fight to her last breath to save it.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of waiting to see if you or your brethren will make good on your offer,” she replied. “It’s too late, anyway. I have to put my defenses in place for whatever is coming. The boat will be ready for your departure by now.”
His eyes snapped with amber fire. “I’m not going to leave you to fight this on your own.”
“Every battle I’ve faced has been on my own. This is nothing new.”
“Damn it, Selene.” He reached out and took hold of her wrist.
She drove him back with a sudden flash of her light. It was pure reflex, only a desperate attempt to defend herself against the heartache that was only getting sharper the longer he remained in the room with her.
Darion stared at her, radiating a fearless determination. “You mean more to me than any fucking crystal. What the hell can I do to prove that to you?”
“You can go, Darion.”
He scoffed. “That’s it, then? That’s really what you want?”
