Jaxor blew out a breath, running a hand over his horn. He looked so tired. So drained. Erin almost felt bad questioning him so much.
“Because I think you would enjoy them. Because I am tired of this,rixella,” he told her, those blue eyes burning into her.
“Of fighting?” she asked, frowning. “With me?”
“Tev,” he rasped. “Againstyou. It is not natural, in the position we are in. I am wondering what would happen if we just...give up.”
Her belly fluttered and she pressed her hand to it in surprise, as if it would stop the uncomfortable sensation.
In the position we are in.
That position, of course, being fated mates. They were bound to one another by magic or fate or dreams, or all three.
“Give up,” she repeated softly, wondering what he meant by that, or what itwouldmean. Her mind raced with possibility. A part of her cautioned that this was a trap.
The other part was intrigued at the prospect, breathless with butterflies.
Erin recalled with dizzying detail—though she’d been half-drunk on Luxirian liquor—the way his mouth felt against hers. Clumsy at first, as if he’d never been kissed before, then taking control with need and efficiency and making her fingers curl into his shoulders. She remembered feeling sympathy and understanding as he talked of his first love, of feeling her heart speed when he asked her if she’d ever been in love.
“I am asking you to trust me,” Jaxor said. “Will you come?”
Jaxor had everything to gain. Erin had everything to lose.
So why was she tempted to do as he asked? To give in? When, just a moment before, she wondered if he was betraying her by leading her into a trap?
Madness.
And maybe Erinwasstupid because she found herself saying, “Yes.”
Chapter Nineteen
“This is what’s down here?” Erin asked, gazing around at the strange landscape when they reached the bottom of the pulley system. Outside the short stretch of cave, they were surrounded by tall mountains on all sides.
A white fungus—or perhaps a type of plant—stretched along the base of the mountains. Jaxor led her through a pass. The mountains were so high and there wasn’t a clear view of what lay beyond or above. It was claustrophobic.
There was no life down here. Perhaps that was what made it so eerie. No cries of thekekevir, no chittering little bugs. The whistling wind winding its way through the pass was the only sound. And their footsteps.
Not for the first time, she wondered why Jaxor had chosen this place of all places to settle on Luxiria. Surely there were nicer locations, places not threatened by predatory beasts or plagued by torrential downpours. A place not so…lonely. So empty. So void of life.
Erin watched him from the corner of her eye. For a moment, she was struck with longing. Longing to reach out and touch him without fear. Longing to speak with him openly, as they had last night by the fire—talking about love and memory. Longing toknowhim.
Do I really have anything to lose by asking him what I want to know?she questioned next.
Not particularly. He could either ignore her or answer her. Or lie to her.
“Do you miss the Golden City?” she decided to ask. She hadn’t seen much of it during her time there, but the glimpses she’d had were beautiful.
“Tev.”
His answer surprised her. She hadn’t truly expected him to answer. But he’d been different that day. Different since last night. Erin would give anything for a glimpse inside his head.
“Do you think you’ll ever go back?”
“Not now,” he said, helping her over a boulder that blocked their path, his hand lingering on her waist after he pulled her over. Erin looked up at him, found his eyes on hers. “I can never go back now.”
“Because you took us?” Erin asked. “Would you get…punished?”
Jaxor let go of her waist and walked on, continuing down the pass. “Tev.”
