“Then why give her up?”
I flinched at his question and backed away. “Because she would never be safe here with me. Even as my mate.”
Guldan shrugged. “So, make her safe.”
I scoffed. “How exactly should I do that?”
“Petition the king. Invite him here. Introduce him to Leda. Advocate for things to change for humans in Penumbra.”
I shook my head. “No. I will not risk her. If he decides he disapproves, he would try to take her from me.”
“I have not spent much time with humans before, but after meeting her, I feel the king would not disapprove.”
“I will not place her in danger. I refuse.”
Guldan sighed as though he expected my response but was still disappointed in it. “Either way, you need to make a show of pursuing her as you would a daemon female. If you show her that sort of respect, so will the males in your command. If they respect her, so will the other daemons that meet her.”
“I cannot do that either.”
“Why not?” He threw up his hands. “Do you want to end up dying in the dungeon beneath Gray Mountain?”
“If I court her, I will want to brand her. To bond with her. She has no idea how to reject me in a way that would kill my instincts. If she didn’t, I would lose control and claim her without her true consent!”
My chest heaved as my hand lashed out and knocked a decorative bowl off the corner of my desk. It crashed to the floor, shattering on impact.
I turned my back on my second-in-command and paced away, fisting my hands in my hair.
“Have you considered that she will accept you?” he asked.
“You sound like Masu,” I grumbled.
“Well, she is a damned sight smarter than you are right now.”
I whirled on him. “Would you ask your mate to give up her home? Her freedom? Even her safety?”
“As I said earlier, if you feel she is unsafe here, make her safe. You have more power than you realize. Change will take time, but it can be done. But it can only begin when someone pushes for it. You have gone into battles that should have been lost. Battles where we were vastly outnumbered, and you have emerged victorious. What is this but another battle?”
“She wants to return to her home, Guldan. She has made that clear.”
“Have you given her a reason to stay?”
“I am trying,” I muttered, staring down at my hands. “I am showing her all the ways I can care for her if she remains with me.”
“Maybe you should move a bit faster.”
“Now you truly sound like Masu. Have the two of you been conspiring behind my back?”
Guldan shook his head. “You are the bravest daemon I know. The strongest and the fiercest warrior. I have never seen you retreat from a challenge. Why are you doing so now?”
“Her rejection would unmake me,” I admitted softly. “If I fight for her and she still finds me lacking, I will never recover. I might as well walk into the Shadow Forest without a single weapon.” To do so would almost certainly result in my death.
“I believe it was you who once told me that everything worth having requires risk.”
I shot him a narrow glare. “That may be true, but we both know this is different.”
“I cannot force you to court the human female. But I will lose the respect I have for you if you give her up without a fight. A mate is a treasure some of us may never find. You have not only found yours, but she seems to enjoy your company. Yet you still hesitate to pursue her. No worthy daemon male I know would make such a poor decision.”
Still shaking his head, Guldan brushed past me and exited my office, leaving the door open behind him.
