He didn’t say those last two words often, and she knew they meant something, but she wasn’t done.
“I’llnevercheat on you, and I love you, but if youeveraccuse me of that again, I’ll leave you.”
His jaw clenched, and silver flashed through the vibrant blue of his eyes. “It will never happen again.”
“Good.”
He smiled at her, but that gulf didn’t close as neither of them moved toward the other.
“My father and I would go fishing too,” he said as he turned back to the water. “There’s a lake behind the palace. It has water the color of the sky on a sunny day. It’s so clear you can almost see the bottom. We would watch the fish swimming beneath us, but we never caught them.”
“Why not?”
A sad smile curved his mouth. “I guess they were smarter than us.”
“But you kept trying?”
“Many times over the years.”
“It’s more about being in the boat, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“What did Orin mean when he said you were playing along with the Lord while plotting behind his back?” she asked.
Cole finally looked at her again. The vivid blue of his eyes stole her breath and caused her heart to stutter. He was gorgeous, and though things were strained between them, he washers. He’d claimed her as his mate, and she wasn’t going to let him go.
“I was never on the Lord’s side. Neither was your father,” he said.
Her eyebrows shot up at this unexpected revelation. “It seems we’ve both been keeping secrets.”
A breeze stirred the air and blew her hair forward. His eyes fell to the strands tickling her face, but he didn’t brush them away as he would have before.
“We have,” he said.
“Should I be as mad at you as you were with me?” And though she tried to keep that anger under control, it bubbled toward the surface. “You accused me of sleeping with your brother and believed I betrayed you.
“I kept Orin’s presence here a secret, but I didn’t do it out of spite or because I was plotting against you. I didn’t do it for the power you possess or a throne. I’m not Becca or the other women you’ve dealt with in your past.
“This is my life and my home. I miss my dad, but I’m happy here. I don’t want to be a queen, but I’d be one foryou. Yet, you’re mad at me for keeping secrets when you were doing thesamething.”
Chapter Sixty
During his many years,there were countless times when he was a complete asshole and treated others with little to no respect. Not once had he felt bad about it.
He’d broken hearts, shattered prides, and destroyed lives without so much as a twinge of regret. Now, self-loathing burned like water from the acid lake in his throat and chest.
“The coalition is a secret from everyone who isn’t a member,” he said.
“And the existence of everyone in those tunnels is the same thing. If I’m going to be a part of your world, then you have to tell me everything I could be facing in it.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“I’mtiredof others always trying to protect me. My father and Sahira sought to protect me from the world, but it was impossible. And now you’re trying to protect me from everything too. I don’t want to be protected anymore. I should know it all if I’m going to be your queen.”
“I’ll tell you all of it then.”
When the wind blew a strand of her hair toward him, he caught it. He admired the different shades of red in it as he let the silken strand slide through his fingers.
