They finished the appetizer in silence, then helped themselves to the fish. He tried not to squirm. She was awfully silent since she’d laid this trap.
He broke first. “So…what’s with all this?”
Ione cocked a pale brow, wrapping her lips around a piece of flaky white fish. She chewed softly, then swallowed. “What’s with all what?”
Tristan sat back, swirling his wine. “The meal. The candles. The, uh, dress? I assume you’re trying to seduce me.”
Ione laughed, a pleasant tinkle. “As if such a thing were possible. Your heart is occupied elsewhere, is it not?”
“Yes.”
She knew it was. He didn’t want to talk about Cassandra with her. Wished she would let it go.
She didn’t, of course.
“Why her?”
Genuine curiosity, maybe even a speck of disbelief, laced Ione’s tone. She twirled the stem of her wine glass and Tristan glanced at her fingers. Short, scrubbed nails and rough, reddened knuckles. A warrior’s hands.
Though this was a very different type of battle.
“Because she sees every part of me,” he answered. “The good, the bad, and the messy. And embraces it without judgment. I feel the same about her. Our fragments fit together.”
A sad smile crept onto Ione’s lips. “You might have said the same thing about us once.”
“Is that how love works then? She needs to possess some skill or attribute you don’t so you can rationalize why I’d choose her over you?” Weeks of pent-up frustration shot for the closest target. “This isn’t a meritocracy, Ione. I love her. I belong to her. And I always will.”
They were silent for a few moments as the weight of his words washed over her. To her credit, she seemed to take it in stride, sipping her wine and tracing circles on the tablecloth, no hint of hurt or sadness on her face.
After a moment, he asked, “Has there been no one else for you in all this time? I find that extremely difficult to believe.”
She let out a breathy little laugh. “I certainly wasn’t celibate. I had my fun. Made my mistakes. But there’s been no one important.”
Just fucking say it, he silently begged. If she still wanted him, was angling to rekindle their affair, he was on edge waiting for her to come out with it. She was so outspoken everywhere else. High Gods, even when they were younger she used to boss him around the kitchen.
But the Ione he’d known had always been careful with her softer feelings. Back in Delos, she’d loved him in secret for just as long as he’d loved her. It was only when he’d finally confessed his feelings that she’d admitted to her own.
At the time, he’d chalked it up to fear. She’d been a human in love with a Fae. And not just any Fae—the Imperial Heir to the Crystal Throne of Ethyrios.
But they werebothFae now. “What do you want from me?”
She released a heavy sigh, then crossed her arms on the table. “It’s not about what I want. It’s about what the Goddess wants.”
He recoiled, trying to keep the shock off his face. “What are you talking about?”
“Have you heard the prophecy?”
Tristan nodded. “Ronin told me. When he was trying to recruit me. Onyourbehalf, I’m assuming. Why didn’t you come down yourself? I’ve been wondering ever since you rescued me.”
“Because you needed to make the decision on your own. And I needed to know if you still believed in your vision for this world. I didn’t want…” She looked up toward the ceiling, tears staining her lower lashes. “Two futures sown, one future known. Born from phantom wings and mortal bones, a new Delphine will rise.”
She recaptured his gaze, awaiting his interpretation of the lines.
He’d been considering them since the moment he’d heard them in the Serpent’s Den.
Ione prodded, “Two futures sown into one. Yours and mine. Your love Turned me into the Delphine, Tristan. And it’s our love that will save this world.”
She said it with such certainty that a headache began to form behind his eyeballs.
