Twenty-Three
Orion was beginning to wonder if Nina was going to come to the temple today. He’d been sitting on the steps, looking out over the lake, and waiting since the sun rose and it was past teatime when she finally wandered into the temple.
“Why are you here?”
He came to his feet and approached slowly. “I found out what the vines meant.”
Nina frowned. “How?”
“It was written in an old journal and my father confirmed it as fact.”
“What do they mean?”
He couldn’t help but smile as he approached. “A gift from the Goddess Gaia to Drakos men since we would be denied powers.”
“I do not understand.”
“It is how a Drakos man knows when he has found his mate, the woman chosen for him. When he kisses her, vines will grow and wrap about the couple’s ankles. The longer the kiss lasts, the higher the vines will climb, and flowers will bloom.”
Nina tilted her head and studied Orion through narrowed eyes, eyebrow quirked. She didn’t believe him.
“It happened to my cousin. He was kissing Cordelia long enough that the vines climbed as far as his knees before he noticed.”
“Why would the goddess do this?”
“She found favor with Drakos men for protecting nature and witches. She also knew that even witches may try to trap a Drakos man in marriage, so she provided proof of who his chosen mate would be.”
“She made a mistake.” Nina started to turn away, but Orion grasped her hand.
“No, she did not, and it explains so much.”
She drew in a breath and if Orion wasn’t mistaken, there was fear in her eyes. Or was it longing and pain? Her pewter eyes shifted with her moods. Lighter when laughing, darker after shared passion. They might as well be stormy now, with shifting of light and he couldn’t tell her emotions, or maybe there was a combination rioting inside.
“This is why we dream of each other and have every night since we met.” He took her other hand. “It is why I have desired you, almost to the point of obsession, and why I love you, and fell in love with you so quickly. You are meant for me, and I am for you.”
“No,” she insisted, shaking her head.
“Can you deny that you love me?”
“You are my friend. Of course, I care.”
“That was not my question.”
“She made a mistake.”
Orion arched a brow. “Are you accusing the goddess of nature of making a mistake?”
Nina closed her eyes and a small tear trickled down her cheek.
“She saved you. Was that a mistake?”
Her pewter eyes grew troubled. “Perhaps it was.”
“No, it was not!”
Was his loving her so abhorrent?
“No,” she finally admitted. “I am glad to have had these years and until I met you, I was completely content with my life.”
