She forced a stiff smile to her lips. “Will you be coming back here?”
“That’s a question I will consider,” he murmured.
“So . . .” She licked her dry lips. “I suppose this is good-bye.”
Expecting Sariel to take advantage of her farewell, she was startled when he reached to take her hand in an uncomfortable grip.
“It need not be.”
She glanced down to where his slender fingers held hers.
“No?”
“You could come with me.”
She struggled to follow the bizarre conversation. “To your home?”
“That is where you belong. With me.”
Okay. This was so not what she was expecting.
She shook her head. “It’s a kind offer, but my place is here.”
A hint of impatience rippled over his painfully beautiful face.
“You have no desire to meet your family?”
She sucked in a sharp breath as he hit her at her most vulnerable spot.
A lucky shot? She didn’t think so.
Her father was clearly a masterful manipulator.
“You’ve spoken to them?”
“Of course.”
“Tell me about them,” she requested, her voice nearly lost on the chilled breeze.
“You have four sisters who are all princesses. Three are married to suitable Chatri males and the fourth will be married as soon as I return,” he readily answered. “There are also two brothers who are in line for the throne. They are currently training to become leaders of their own houses.”
His words were no doubt intended to tempt her into traveling to his home. Unfortunately for him, they only reminded Sally of the difference between herself and her siblings.
Princesses? Princes?
She would be a joke.
Feeling Sariel’s piercing gaze, she ducked her head. “I’m nothing more than a stranger to them.”
“You rescued me from the Nebule. You would be a hero to them.” His voice was coaxing. “They will no doubt compose songs and poems in your honor.”
Sally grimaced in sheer horror. “No thanks.”
The perfect features tightened, as if he was irritated by her response.
“Then what about your family?” he insisted.
“What about them?”
“Among the Chatri nothing is more important.” He chose his words with care. “Would you deny them the opportunity to meet you?”
Sally couldn’t deny a pang of regret.
She’d been so alone for so long, always secretly dreaming she would find a place to call home.
Now that she was actually being offered one, it was unbearably wrenching to turn her back on it.
“I’m not truly family,” she whispered.
His grip tightened on her fingers. “What do you mean?”
“I’m a half-breed,” she reminded him. “I doubt the princes and princesses would be happy to have me pop out of the proverbial closet.”
With his usual arrogance, Sariel shrugged aside the inevitable horror at her arrival among the coldly aloof, shatteringly beautiful Chatri.
“They will accept you.”
A sad, wistful smile tugged at her lips. He was king. He could probably force his people to bow and scrape before her if that’s what he commanded.
But he couldn’t make them think of her as anything but an interloper.
There mere thought made her shudder.
“I’m looking for more than gruding acceptance,” she told him softly.
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
She smiled wryly. “I know.”
He hesitated, his supreme confidence faltering as he studied her in exasperation.
Had he expected her to leap for joy at his invitation?
Probably.
“Tell me what you desire.”
She turned to glance toward the house they’d left behind. She could see no more than the roof, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t need to see the sprawling mansion to know that Roke was inside.
Unconsciously she lifted a hand to rub it against the center of her chest, directly over heart.
“Love.”
Sariel studied her in confusion. “Love?”
The word was clearly unfamiliar to her father. Perhaps the Chatri considered messy emotions beneath them.
But Sally didn’t.
She’d devoted years to futilely trying to earn her mother’s love. And then even more years trying to pretend it didn’t matter.
Why shouldn’t she be blessed with the happiness other people took for granted?
“It’s what I’ve wanted my whole life,” she admitted. “And I’m not going to stop searching until I find it.”
Sariel studied her with a steady amber gaze, the scent of intoxicating wine filling the air.
“Does the vampire love you?”
Sally grimaced.
Her father certainly had a way of striking where she was most vulnerable.
It was a question that she’d refused to consider.
She’d told herself that any emotions Roke might or might not feel for her were nothing more than a result of the unwanted mating. And that once she’d reversed her spell, he’d walk away without a backward glance.
But while she hadn’t consciously allowed herself to nurture dangerous hopes, a few had managed to creep beneath her defenses and lodge themselves deep in her heart.
A part of her desperately wanted to believe that when the mating was at last broken, Roke would feel more than relief. That he would . . .
She bit her bottom lip, trying to leash her fantasies.
It wasn’t fair to Roke. He’d already sacrificed so much for her. How could she expect him to fall in love with the woman who’d bewitched him, bonded him, and then nearly gotten him killed a dozen times?
And she knew him well enough to realize that if he suspected leaving her would break her heart, he would feel guilty. Or worse, try to pretend he wasn’t desperate to get away from her.
“I’m not certain.” She was careful to keep the yearning out of her voice. “I know he cares, but how much of that is a result of the mating and how much is genuine affection is impossible to know.”
“Not impossible,” he assured her.
She met the amber gaze. “You can remove the spell?”
His pale, beautiful face gave no indication of his inner thoughts. “It’s a simple enchantment spell but because your powers were surging at the time, they triggered his mating instincts.”
Sally grimaced. She hoped her powers would level off soon. The goddess only knew what disaster she might create next time.