“I made a promise that I would not feel anything.”
“I don’t care about a promise you made with yourself when she came to live under your roof, or one you made to us.” Shaye sounds exasperated.
“Leave him be.” Giles sighs over the clanking of cooking tools. “He can feel what he wants for our human friend; I rather like her.”
“And I want to know if that feeling is love.” Shaye is a dog with a bone, there’s no way she’s giving this up. “Do you love her?”
I lean into the door slightly, pressing my ear against the cool wood, and hold my breath. No, I want to scream, say no. If he doesn’t love me, things remain uncomplicated. It means I haven’t made a mistake. If he doesn’t love me then—
“I do,” Davien says. I slowly slide down the door to my knees. Covering my mouth, I wheeze. My stomach clenches. I feel like my body is trying to turn itself inside out. I am my father’s daughter after all my attempts to avoid his fate.
No, I will not make the same mistakes as him. Just because love is brewing for Davien doesn’t mean anything for me. I will not be taken in by these affections. I will not indulge my desires with him any longer. I will give him the magic and be gone before he traps me into a life of misery like Joyce trapped my father.
“You know—”
“I know.” Davien cuts off Shaye curtly. “I know that she and I could never be together. However I might care for her makes no difference. I will get the magic from her and I will send her away.”
“Your Majesty…” Giles says softly, almost sadly, even though Davien is talking the most sense he possibly could be. There’s nothing to be sad about. He clearly knows the lines.
“In time, I’m sure she will mean nothing to me and this will be little more than an infatuation. I will find a proper queen. And I will be free of this hold Katria has placed upon me.” Davien’s words become more forceful with every sentence. “She will become nothing to me.”
There’s not a whiff of smoke. Every word he said is the truth.
