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“Then why is he leaving?”
Adam pulled her close and stared into her eyes. “Listen to me, Annalise. My brother’s mind is poisoned. He’s dangerous and confused. If you were truly called to him, he’d never be able to walk away.”
“What if the stories are wrong? I saw him in my dreams, Adam. How come none of the Elders can explain that?”
“They’re not the same dreams.”
“He was there! He shared them with me. Why won’t you believe me?”
“The Elders—”
“Fuck The Elders! I’m telling you—”
His hand closed over her mouth. “Hush. You mustn’t say such things, ainsicht.”
She pulled his hand away and scowled. “Cain said you would do this. He said you would trust them over me.”
“He’s poisoning your thoughts against me.” His fingers forked through his hair. “I must catch my grandfather before he leaves.”
She caught his sleeve. “Don’t you dare go running off for another secret meeting with the men! I’m supposed to be your mate. Start treating me that way.”
“I do.”
“No, you want to decide everything without my input. Tonight you even decided if your grandfather could compliment me to my face or just assess me like he was looking over a horse.”
“That’s not true.”
“It’s also not a total lie. This is a partnership, Adam. That’s the only way it’s ever going to work for me. I’m sick of feeling like my opinion means less than everyone else’s around here.”
“Ainsicht, your opinion means more to me than anyone else’s. How could you say such a thing?”
She glanced over her shoulder toward the kitchen. “Why are they making so much food?”
His face shifted, a mask of secrets sliding over his eyes.
“Is it wedding food?”
“They only want to be prepared in case you change your mind.”
“Adam! They’ve been working all day! Do you know how that makes me look?”
“I will tell them there’s not going to be a wedding.”
She rubbed her head. “You should have told them that the first time they assumed there would be. God! Why would you let them believe otherwise?”
“Because I believe otherwise.”
Her gaze jerked up from her fidgeting hands. “Excuse me?”
“I believe you’ll want to marry me, Anna. Once we’re bonded, there will be no unlocking our souls. It’s pointless for us to avoid the inevitable.”
“Is it pointless to wait for a girl to accept a proposal, which, by the way, hasn’t happened?”
He tipped his head. “Is that what you want? A proposal?”
“It would be nice.”
He took her hands. “Annalise Snow, will you let me love you for the rest of my life? Will you let me worship your soul, honor your body, and nourish your life in every possible way a male can see to a female’s needs? Will you take my name and bear my children and love me even in my most unlovable moments? Will you make a life with me, where you’re always my first priority, my first thought, and my last? Will you give me forever to prove that I’m deserving of your heart?”
She blinked at him, unsure how anyone could respond to such words. “You guys don’t do the down on one knee, ring thing?”
His mouth hooked in a smile of full on male arrogance. “We’re a bit more complicated than that. But if it pleases you...” He dropped to one knee. “Annalise Snow, will you marry me?”
She blinked at him. “I wasn’t... I hadn’t prepared...”
“Ask and you shall receive, ainsicht. I’ll deny you nothing.”
Only an idiot would turn down such promises. So what was wrong with her? She pulled him to his feet and paced to the railing. “No one’s ever...”
His hands closed over her shoulder, the dampness of his clothes seeping into her back. “I love you, Annalise. And if it takes the rest of my life, I promise to work every single day at earning your love in return.”
Her head lowered. He already worked his way into her heart, but how much of that was some predisposed biological chemistry, and how much of it was love. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust myself. I don’t want to hurt you, Adam.”
“There’s nothing you could do that I wouldn’t forgive. Nothing you could ask that I wouldn’t do.”
She turned to face him and drew in a galvanizing breath. “What if I want to help Cain?”
He staggered back as if she slapped him.
“You just said, there’s nothing I could ask that you wouldn’t do—”
“And this is what you took from that?” he snapped.
“If you can’t keep a promise you made five seconds ago, what good are all the promises of your proposal? This is why I think it’s too soon to get married.”
His jaw twitched and she sensed his anger. It was the first time it hit her so precisely. “You take advantage of my love.”
“Your love has conditions.”
“My love is bottomless! You’re the one building walls between us. Cain is a serpent spreading poison!”
