“There’s dessert, or I can ask for something else if you prefer?”
She shook her head, stopping near the couch. Night had stolen in on this side of Cidéra. Moonlight cast a silvery glow over the balcony and the rolling gardens.
Was he going to pretend nothing happened?
“Who is she?” Leya went with that first because the damn hole in her chest wouldn’t ease.
He looked up from pouring the tea into two porcelain cups. “Asennka and her brother are nobles whose sire oversees a town in Cidéra.”
At the rigid set of his features, the hole dug itself deeper. “She is more than that. I feel it.”
A tic worked in his jaw. He set the teapot down. “Her brother seems to think we’re betrothed.”
Shock nailed her feet to the ground. It took a second before she could respond. “What?”
“It’s not true.”
“Why would he lie about something like that?”
“The usual, to join the ruling family. According to him, my parents made a verbal agreement with theirs.”
Leya gripped the back of the couch, sure her knees would collapse. “So, you’re engaged?”
“I’m not.”
“Aerén, I might not know much about your world or its rules, but I do know a betrothal is a serious matter! Your parents are the monarchs. Their word is likely law!”
God.She’d gotten so caught up in his world that she’d forgotten the reality of their lives for a moment.
He was an immortal prince. Of another world! They had nothing in common except for an undeniable chemistry. A stolen moment or two was all it could ever be between them.
Lady Asennka was every inch the kind of woman who would be suitable for someone like him. Tall, noble, and immortal.
Everything she wasn’t. “Is this why you were okay with Lord Eregen asking me out?”
“I expectedyouto tell him flat-out to fuck off!” he snapped.
“Wh-what?”
“Dammit!” He thrust his fingers through his hair, frustration stamping his features, and paced away from her. He spun back. “Leya, you have free will. You can say and do whatever you want. I can’t. Nor could I tell him to fuck off, or, kill him for coming after you. He is my subject and a lord of the realm.”
Leya wrapped her arms around her waist, feeling like she stood on the edge of a precipice as she watched him.
He scrubbed his jaw, seeming to reel in his anger, and stopped in front of her. “Think about this, Leya. Why wait this long to tell me about the betrothal if such an agreement exists? It’s been two years since my parents apparently agreed to thispact, before they went missing.”
Her gaze slid over his tight features. And with everything overwhelming her, she shook her head. While Aerén wouldn’t lie about something that important, reality couldn’t be avoided. “It doesn’t matter anyway, does it? I’ll be gone soon, but you will still be faced with the contract, and without free will, as you say, you won’t have a choice. You will have to mate her.”
A tic worked his jaw. “You give up so easily?”
Because I have no choice.
If she gave in to her desire, then that organ in her chest would shatter when she left. It was how she was wired. Her foolish heart never listened and always got involved.
She met his penetrating stare and forced herself to say the hardest thing she had to in this situation. “Aerén, I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about all this. I’m not a Chosen, we’ve established that. This thing between us is just a momentary distraction—a bit of fun in all this chaos. We have a short time left. Let’s not fight over this, please. If you say you aren’t betrothed, then I believe you.”
“A bit of fun?” he repeated.
“What else can it be?” Her heart hurt at the disillusionment settling in his ice-gray eyes.
