Twenty-Four
Orion’s heart ached as he made his way back to the mansion.
Her arguments were sound, and he understood, except she wasn’t seeing the joy and happiness they would share. Instead, Nina only saw sadness.
How could he make her understand?
Was it even possible?
Orion feared that she might never admit that she loved him, let alone agree to marry him.
She had to love him. She’d not denied the fact, and the pain in her eyes, blurry with tears, was evidence that she wanted him too.
Why was she so bloody stubborn?
Even if Nina never agreed to marriage, he would remain at Nightshade Manor watching over her and wishing they could be more.
Ignoring the rest of his family, Orion took a bottle of brandy from the library and went up to his chamber. He had every intention of getting good and bloody drunk.
Maybe tomorrow he would find answers.
He loved her.
Orion Drakos loved her, and Nina loved him.
It hadn’t been an infatuation because he was the first gentleman she had ever encountered.
It was real and true, ordained by a goddess.
Is that why she had been saved?
Was she being ungrateful by rejecting Orion?
Except, it was more than that.
So long as Nina was tied to the sacred grove, so would be Cassian and now Orion, neither venturing further than Bocka Morrow or maybe to the edge of Cornwall.
They should not remain here for her.
It was not fair to them.
Nina settled on her window seat and stared out toward the cove. She could see the mansion from here. The break in the woods was just enough that she could watch, but because her cottage was sheltered in the trees, and brown, blending in, it was hard to find. Perhaps if someone were on an upper floor of the mansion, looking her way, they might notice a light, but to her knowledge, it had never been questioned.
Was she mistaken on how far she could go? She hadn’t ventured into the orchard in years. The last time she had gotten weak, and then there was the pain and she feared that she’d been too far from her tree.
Maybe that hadn’t been it at all?
Could she go farther? Even to the mansion where Orion would now live?
What if she transplanted the tree closer to the house? Would it then be possible to travel farther within Nightshade Manor and be a part of the family and household?
She was dreaming, but she wanted it to be so. If she could marry Orion and live there, they could both be happy, and Cassian would be free to find his happiness. She would still miss out on her children in Society, but it wouldn’t be so strange being a recluse living in a mansion as it would be never leaving a grove.
Was it selfish to want that love for herself, to enjoy what years she could with Orion and children? Would the pain she suffered in the future, as she lost them one by one be lessened by having memories? Was the pain of denying herself the opportunity for love now worse than what she would experience in the future.
Did she dare take the risk.
If only she could break from the grove, her tree and be fully free, she would do so. What she feared was going too far and dying.
