Immortals finding their mates and bonding was cause for celebration. After all, it was the only way they could have children Aerén had said. And yet, Reynner wouldn’t acknowledge her.
Tears clogged her throat. Her chest hurt until she could no longer breathe. She dropped her head in her hand, wishing the unbearable pain would ease.
But, no matter how much she hurt, she did want Reynner to be happy, and she’d never force him to stay. Not after what she’d seen—what he’d lived through in Hell.
Chapter 20
Reynner stood outside Eve’s studio, feeling like he’d been torn apart and put together again. He watched North head up the darkened alley, not before telling him that Lucan had been by.
Raking a shaky hand through his hair, he retied it. His gait too slow and his body too lax, his strength was that of a babe. Hell, he probably looked as wrung out as he felt. After the period in his dungeon, Aerén had insisted he rest. He didn’t agree. With his mind on Eve, desperation clawed at him to return. A night and day had passed since he’d left her.
Reynner scanned the studio and found Eve alone. She had to be busy with her work.
He stepped inside. Amidst the acrid odor of melting metal, the briny scent of tears hit him hard. His stomach in knots, he flashed to her side. “Eve, what’s wrong?”
She stiffened at the sound of his voice and dashed at her face with the back of her hand, the movement too fast. His gaze fell on her drawing book, and he saw the soggy patch on her sketch sheet.
“Nothing.” She closed the pad, pushed off her chair, and started to clear her table. Frowning, Reynner ran his gaze over the tidy surface. The sketches were placed in their folders, pens in their stands, and even her jellybean jar had received her attention. No longer within her reach, but against the wall. Everything lined up like soldiers.
The place was too damn neat. This wasn’t her. One thing he’d learned, Eve liked the chaos on her worktable. He stepped in front of her, blocking her attempts to avoid him. “I know Lucan was here. What the hell did he say?”
She finally looked at him, her eyes filled with pain and betrayal, and red-rimmed from the tears she’d shed. “Only what you didn’t.”
Like a light had been switched on, his gut tightened, and he knew. The bastard had opened his fucking mouth and spilled. He wanted to kill the mage for interfering in something that was none of his damn business.
“What exactly am I to you?” she asked. Her fingers closed around her pencil, tightening as if she needed the thing to anchor her.
He didn’t want to get into this now, not when his head felt like someone had jabbed an ice pick through his skull and mushed his brains. He just wanted to hold her, forget the last tormenting twenty-four hours until Inanna had finally gotten bored and the pain had eased.
“Tell me.” A choked demand.
He pinched the bridge of his nose then found her gaze, his mind fuzzy as he answered. “You are who destiny chose for me.”
***
Eve stared at him for a long, silent moment. “But not whoyouwould have chosen.”
At his baffled look, anger warred with her bitterness. She clamped a lid over it. “Is that why I can sense you—your presence in my mind?”
He nodded. A flare of yearning so powerful crossed his face. It made her insides tremble. But she refused to let hope spring, imagining what she wanted. The fact that he’d kept something this important from her showed her the stark truth.
“Yes, when we were together, we bonded.”
When we were together—notwhen we made love. Even his words screamed the truth at her. He wouldn’t have touched her had he known. She got that loud and clear.
“I understand.” She struggled to raise her protective shields around her emotions. She dropped her pencil on the table and went back to her work in progress. How she managed the simple feat of walking, when it felt like she’d been shattered, every inch of her broken, she had no idea.
“That’s it?” he bit out, following her. “No questions about why I didn’t tell you?”
She turned dull eyes to him. Why was he so angry? He wasn’t the one having to deal with the unbearable pain of being unwanted. “What do you want me to say? You obviously don’t want a mate, because if you did, you would have said something. And we both know you only slept with me because I wanted you.”
She stuck her earphones on and cranked up her iPod, trying to lose herself in her music and her work. But she had no prayer in hell of that happening when she was aware of him like a tangible force of power behind her. Even his scent taunted her.
He hauled her around, startling her. Her earphones were ripped off and pocketed, along with her iPod. The metal strip in her hand hit the ground with a thin twang.
He yanked her close, his fingers biting into her upper arms. “We have a problem, you talk to me. Don’t shut me out, Eve, or you won’t like what I’ll do.”
“Don’t threaten me—” she snapped, pushing away. “You want to talk? Fine. After the Stone’s found, what do you plan to do?”
