“No, dearest.” He leaned closer, hiding his hands under his arms to keep them from touching me. “I’ll stay here, waiting for you. And in the morning, you’ll come back, well-rested, fresh like a flower, agile like a butterfly, and we’ll have another beautiful day together. It’s just one night apart. One very short night. I won’t even have breakfast without you.”
“Promise?”
“Do you want a formal promise from me?” He grinned.
“You mean the one that will kill you if you break it?” I gave him the I-don’t-think-so look. “No, thank you. But I would much prefer to have breakfast with you instead of Arnon.”
“All you have to do is spend the darkest hours of the night at his palace, and I will come for you at sunrise.”
Everything inside me rebelled at the prospect of parting from Kye for an entire night. The strength of my reaction shocked me. Kye was not supposed to mean anything to me.
Yet I couldn’t fight the feeling. All I could hope for was that putting some physical distance between us would lessen this inconvenient, inappropriate attraction.
This frightened, anxious, fervently dependent woman wasn’t me. I didn’t know what turned me into her—this world, the monsters, or Kye—but I didn’t want to lose sight of the strong,independent, capable Maren I’d always been. I needed her strength, her rational thinking, and her determination.
Of course, Maren from my old world never had to face creepy tentacles with eyes on them or have a rope of slime trying to drag her into the ocean by her ankle. But I had dealt with my share of creeps as well as some slimy characters in my past.
I could do it. I could spend a night away from the man I didn’t even know existed just a week ago. A man who still technically kept me here as a hostage.
I puffed out a determined breath and nodded firmly.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
Propping a hand against the wall, Kye leaned over me. The breeze floating through the palace blew a strand of his hair over my cheek in the only caress I could have from him.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said in that melodious, soothing tone of voice he used when singing to me. “You’ll have dinner with me tonight, then I’ll walk you to Arnon’s palace myself.”
He delivered the offer casually, as if it was a regular thing for him to stroll across the reef in the evening.
“You haven’t left this palace for decades,” I reminded him.
Was he really going to step outside for the first time in so many years?
For me?
He drew in a deep breath. “Well, it’s about time to take a walk then, don’t you think?”
Chapter 13
Maren
It wasn’t a formal promise, but Kye fulfilled it all the same. We spent the morning together, then had lunch on the patio outside.
Kye ordered a huge platter of scallops for lunch, and they were the biggest scallops I’d ever seen, each bigger than my palm.
“I don’t think I can eat any more,” I laughed after polishing off two, which was more than I should’ve eaten judging by how stuffed I felt now.
“Are they not to your liking?” Kye frowned in concern.
“No, they’re perfect. Really, really good. I’m just too full to take even a bite more. Do you want to try?”
He was eating a shrimp salad, with all the pieces in it cut to bite-size.
He shook his head at my offer. “The bigger the scallops, the more succulent they are. But these are for you. I normally eat much smaller ones.”
I knew the reason for that. But it didn’t mean he couldn’t try.
“Good thing I have just the right tool to make them smaller.” I lifted my knife before cutting a piece of my scallop for him. “Here. It’s really good, I promise.”
