Frowning, she faced him. “Then why didn’t you go to wherever you normally do to Ground properly?”
“Because a full Grounding can take days. With the rebel hunting you, I won’t leave you alone for so long. Now a godsdamn apparition managed to enter the castle and is after you too!” He thrust his fingers through his bound hair, messing it a bit—his movements revealing the play of muscles in his powerful biceps, distracting her. “You’ll be residing in my quarters from now on. It is warded tighter than a vault.”
Whaaat?Her gaze rushed to his hard, determined features. From the safety of her room in the servant’s quarters into the lion’s den? Not that he would jump her—more likely,she’ddo so.
Darn horny libido!
With a deep breath, she forced her thoughts back to the one thing she didn’t want to think about. It hovered in her mind like a dark cloud, squeezing her belly with unrelenting icy fingers. “You can’t go after the rebel, Aerén.”
“Why not?”
“The spirit showed me what would happen. Maybe it’s a forewarning. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I can handle whatever it is—”
“No, dammit! You didn’t see what I did.” She glared at him. “You were trapped, beaten, and locked in a cage!”
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“The ghost, when he tried to get me to go with him, I saw a vision of you first. You were suspended in…in a cage, blood everywhere, then images of my mother took over.”
“He wanted you to go with him?”
That was what he heard? And not the danger to him?
Lord, help him.She scrubbed her face with both hands. He grasped her wrists and lowered her arms. Waited.
“Yes,” she said with a deep sigh. “But I didn’t. I broke free of his hypnotic hold and ran out, as you know. Aerén, you can’t go after them. Those rebels wantyou! The one who threatened me said so!”
“Leya…” He slowly rubbed her upper arms. “Don’t fret about this. Yes, I have enemies, and someone will always be after me. I’m sorry you’re caught in this mess. Just know, whoever comes after me never leaves alive.”
If his caress was meant to soothe her, it failed miserably. His touch hiked the unending need to move closer to him.Ugh.She pushed away so she could think straight, and her frustration amped up at his casual dismissal of the danger to him. “Aerén, you’re immortal, not invincible.”
“Perhaps. But it will be damn hard for whoever comes after me.” He folded his arms over his powerful chest, appearing as if he were utterly infallible, except she remembered the demon wound that had taken him down for several hours. “If he catches me…” A shrug. “Then I deserve whatever happens.”
Christ! Did nothing scare him?
“Aerén, please.” She fisted her hands so she wouldn’t grab his shirt and shake some sense into him. “Something about all this feels off.”
“It’ll be okay.” He slid one callused palm to curl around her neck, his thumb gently caressing her jaw. “Trust me.”
If distraction was his intention, it worked far too well. Her frantic feelings subsided a smidgen. He let her go and rounded the counter, putting an end to the convo.
Sighing, Leya pressed her fingers to her jaw, his touch lingering, her mind back on his other comment, the one she’d been trying not to think about.
Yes, he wanted her.
But she lived on Earth.
He lived in another world.
The divide between them remained as vast as the universe. Besides, powerful immortals like him could only offer a fling or an affair, and with him beingroyalty…
No, it could never be more.
She gulped down some of the juice he’d poured for her, trying to eliminate the tightness in her throat.
Aerén procured another cookie and ate it, then looked up from closing the tray and caught her watching him. “What?”
