She hastily yanked her gaze to the weapon in her hand.
“Do you want to know what I think, hmm?”
“No.” She ran the tip of her finger along the flat of the sword. Something had changed with him since she’d last seen him two days ago. Where he’d been distant and short with her, now he was back to tormenting her. Her stomach knotted.
“I’ll tell you anyway.” He circled her, eyes gleaming like a predator’s. “I think everything you threw at me in your apartment is a whole lot ofstercoi—”
“You’re so full of yourself!”
He flipped his weapon like it was a coin. “Am I?”
Then she knew. Dammit, Hana! “What did my sister tell you?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Who said she spoke to me?”
She growled. He wasn’t going to relent or admit to anything. Her weapon gripped with both hands, she swung her sword in a powerful arc. He blocked with an easy counterstrike, like she wielded a toothpick, and smirked at her. Bastard.
His eyes narrowed as if he’d heard her cuss. It was all the warning she got.
Unlike Severn, he came at her hard and fast, no quarter given. The power of his blows sang up her arms and body, ringing inside her skull, yet she sensed him holding back.
Just as well, or she would have likely landed in the sea. But it didn’t stop her.
Along with the anger and pain roiling through her, her adrenaline rush gave her the boost she needed, and she just about managed to keep up.
“Who taught you to fight like that, the hand-to-hand? The sword work needs attention.”
She scowled. “My father. To protect us from overbearing men!”
“Then why didn’t you smack down thefosserwho crashed into you the night we met?” he demanded, easily sidestepping another strike.
“Because it all happened so fast, and you slid in as my knight in shining armor,” she shot back, frustrated at him playing with her.
No, she couldn’t actually take him down, but wound? Hell, maybe she could, but that was the last thing she wanted to do, when she’d already did a bang-up job of breaking his heart.
His sword swung in a deadly arc. Instead of countering, she evaded, wheeled around, and kicked him in the chest. He stumbled, grabbed her ankle, and hauled her with him as he fell. Her weapon flew free as she landed hard in a tumble across him, the little air in her lungs swooshing free. Before she could scramble off, he held her to him.
“Are you all right?” he demanded.
Leya groaned, unable to talk. She needed air for that. With his tough, tempting body under hers, his warm, masculine scent enfolded her, and she longed to sink into him.
Chest heaving, his gaze slowly traced her features, his hands sliding to her hips—hands that knew every inch of her intimately.
“Why, Leya?” he asked quietly.
The lump in her chest slid to her throat.Because a life together is just not meant to be for us.
“Do you honestly wish me to choose your sister as a mate?” he asked. “It’s what I’m ordered to do, even by you. For two days, you’ve avoided me.Twodamn days, and you are all I thought of…” His expression grew dark. “Wewere meant to be together.”
The intensity of his stare and tormented words crushed her heart, pain seeping through. Her lips quivered. Her eyes burned.
Tenderly, he swept back the strands the light breeze tugged free from her braid. “I’m going to find a way to make this right for us.”
“You have to let this go. We cannot be.”
His expression hardened. “Why not?”
“Because you will be banished from your world if you do this!” she yelled. “You will be aloneforeverwhen I die in a few decades! There is no going back after me. I love you too much to let you go through that—”
