Page 69 of Destiny of a King

Chapter Seventeen

Shifting paths

Whispers of a Legend

Adira did not hesitate.

The moment his finger beckoned, she rose and crossed the room toward him.

Dravic watched her every step. The firelight danced across her face, casting shifting shadows that somehow managed to reveal a quiet beauty he had failed to see. Her gaze remained lowered until she reached him. Then, slowly, she lifted her eyes to his.

There it was, still lingering there. The same fierce emotion he had seen only moments before.

It stirred something deep within him, something he had neither expected nor welcomed. Kings did not have the luxury of surrendering to emotion. Duty demanded discipline, reason, and sacrifice.

Yet there was no denying what he saw in her eyes.

She cared for him far more than she should.

The unsettling thought came swiftly. If he was not careful… he could come to care for her just as deeply.

How had that happened? When had it begun? Or had it been there all along?

He had kept her close from the beginning, never really knowing why. Whenever Tavish questioned him, he always had an answer. But had any of those answers ever truly made sense?

He no longer knew.

He reached up slowly.

Do not touch her.

He ignored his own warning and gently brushed his finger beneath her eye. “You cannot care for me.” His thumb lingered against her soft cheek. “I forbid it.”

His own words pierced his heart like an arrow.

This was not good. He could not allow it to happen. He could not allow himself to care for her. It would only end badly… for her.

The way she continued to look at him did not help. She did not hide how she felt, did not shy away from it. It was almost as if she simply accepted it.

And bloody hell if it didn’t stir his manhood.

If she was so willing, why should he deny her? Why not make her his mistress?

He shook his head, but he did not push her away.

She was a vulnerable woman, unable to hear or speak. He would be a fool to treat her so poorly. But what kind of life would she have otherwise? What sort of man would willingly seek a woman like Adira? One who desired unquestioning obedience? One who thought her silence made her easy to control? One who believed she could be used and discarded because she had no voice to protest?

The thought alone stirred a fierce anger in him.

His glance dropped to her hand, feeling it resting firmly against his chest, then he raised his eyes to hers and saw concern there. She had felt the change in him, and it worried her.

He had come to cherish the quiet closeness he had found with her. She was always there beside him and as her fear of him faded, her understanding of him had grown, and that had become priceless to him. Like now. Though she could not hear a sound or speak a word, she knew he was angry and sought to comfort him.

With Adira he never felt alone.

He could not lose that. He could not lose her.

So, what should he do?