“I will not. Helping you is one thing, Bloom. But I—I—” Rage makes his voice shake. “I hate humans.”
It would’ve hurt less if he struck me.
My knees buckle as I absorb his words. The finality in them. I see the cracks in it. That his hatred is to cover up some larger hurt.
A crack splits down my heart, stealing my breath.
“A human killed my father.”
The words are barely above a whisper.
My bleeding heart breaks anew as the anger in his eyes gives way to sadness. On instinct, I go to him, throwing my arms around his middle. I bury my cheek against the hard ridges of his stomach and hold him tightly.
“Oh, Rhy,” I murmur. “I’m so sorry. Please don’t let the actions of one bad human ruin us all. If you come back with me, you’ll see most of them are kind souls.”
Rhydian’s hands fall to my waist.
They fit completely around me. He strokes my sides with his thumbs. A humorless chuckle seeps from his lips. I pull back to look at him, to show him that I mean what I say.
“What would you have me do there? What would be my role? Lord over the town as my father had attempted to do. He had collected a paltry tithe then, but he had protected the villagers. No doubt, they will run me out for leaving them vulnerable all this time.”
“They wouldn’t?—”
“Save it, Bloom. They don’t have your good-naturedness when it comes to my appearance. They will take one look at me, and I pray I go back to whatever hell I escaped from.”
I shake my head.
It’s the isolation talking. He’s been alone for too long. Things are different. Perhaps his father had lived separately from us, keeping Dew Hollow safe from the shadows, but Rhydian could join us in the light. They would understand his absence due to grief.
Besides the tithe, we have suffered no duress that disrupts our way of life. With Rhydian a part of the village, he could keep any unknown threats at bay from inside our community.
“Come live with me and my father. Work in the bakery alongside us until?—”
“You married another,” he interrupts.
His words rip the air from my lungs. I pull back and stare at the agony in his face. The despair is more pronounced than when discussing his father’s passing. His hands on my waist tighten as if he can physically keep me with him while his words paint a different picture.
“I made peace with sending you back, Bloom. With knowing that when the morning came, you would go with it. That I would never see you again.” His fingers trail over my cheek. “Even though I want to beg you to stay.”
“Rhydian—”
His thumb trails over the line of my jaw as he lets loose a harsh breath. Rhydian's large frame trembles as if his desire is too great to bear.
The restraint he’s clinging to weakens by the second.
“It is strange. I’ve spent nearly three decades alone. Believed I would die in isolation—perish never knowing the companionship and love my parents shared. But the moment I met you everything changed.” Rhydian flattens a large palm against the center of his chest. “I feel you. In here.”
“I feel you too,” I whisper.
Desire swirls in his dark eyes, but he looks away. My nipples press into his chest as the skin between my thighs turns damp.
“I will not trap you in this lonely existence with me, Bloom. A man awaits you. One who can live peacefully in your village. You believe the others are good, but I’ve seen the very worst in your kind. They wouldn’t welcome me in. More than that, they would seek to poison you against me.”
His hand travels up my side in a slow glide.
“And I couldn’t stand being so close when you realized you meant for another. It would kill me. It is why I have to say goodbye to you while I’m still strong enough to let you go.”
My heart races. I don’t know what to say.
