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The headiness washed away, and my smile faded entirely.
“You want me to marry you?” I asked dully.
“I know. I probably should have arranged a more romantic proposal, but this seemed like the right time somehow. Was I wrong?”
“Yes,” I blurted out before I could think.
Now, his smile fuzzed. “What?”
“No, Nyx,” I rushed on. “I won’t marry you. I’m sorry.”
Chapter 13
Nyx
Dumbfounded, I stared at her, certain I’d heard her wrong—or that she’d heard me wrong.
“What?”
She shook her head again and turned away, shame coloring her face. “No.”
“No?” I echoed, still feeling the incredible pull of our mate bond drawing us toward one another. “What do you mean, ‘no’?” She curled tighter into a ball and turned her head away from me, but I refused to let her look away. “Maren!” I said sharply, taking her chin toward me. “We’re meant to be together. Can’t you feel that?”
With my free hand, I placed her palm against my chest and forced her to feel the intense pounding of my heart against my chest.
“I know,” she whispered, pulling her hand back and avoiding my eyes still. “But the answer is still no.”
I sat up, fully extricating myself from her, to fall back to the side of the bed, not understanding at all.
“Why not?” I demanded, hurt and angry. “You don’t love me?”
It was a rhetorical question. I knew she did, but her answer made no sense whatsoever. She was my mate, the mother of my future child. She should want to be my queen, too.
She whirled around, her eyes wide and alarmed. “Of course I love you, Nyx,” she countered, sounding offended that I had suggested it. “You are the only thing in my life that has ever made me feel happy.”
“And I’m offering you a lifetime of that happiness!” I sputtered. “How are you refusing it?”
Reaching for the decorative throw blanket at the foot of the bed, she covered herself and also sat up, sighing heavily, as if the conversation were painful.
“You don’t really want me to be your queen, Nyx,” she murmured.
I gawked at her. “I think I do, or I wouldn’t have asked you,” I countered sharply. “What are you talking about? Why are you saying that?”
“Come on, Nyx,” she mumbled, curling her knees to her chest and wrapping the throw closer around her body. “You don’t even want anyone to know that you own Maximo’s. How do you think everyone is going to react when you tell them that you’re making a dancer your queen?”
“I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks!” I barked, grabbing her hand. “Haven’t I made that clear to you yet? You are the only one I want. You’re the only one I care about. I am the King of Steelshire, and I am free to marry the mother of my child, if that’s what I want to do.”
Sadly, she smiled at me. “You have made it clear,” she murmured. “But you’re not thinking about how it will affect me or the child.”
I blinked. “I only ever think about you and the child.”
“I know you do, but you’re not prepared for the backlash. I’m sure of it. The kingdom?—”
I laughed. “I think I know a thing or two about how to handle the kingdom. I’ve been a part of it for three decades. You also thought that it would be the end of the world if you moved in here. That’s not what happened, is it?”
She continued to stare at me, unconvinced.
“Maren, you’re already living here with me,” I added. “The next inevitable step is us getting married.”
