AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Marius saw how tightly Shayna clutched the chain, still wrapped around her wrist and threaded through her fingers. He felt her tension and sensed her indecision.
He’d never been more frustrated in his life. Why couldn’t she see how much she was needed here?
He’d already made the decision not to force her to stay, yet every cell in his body screamed that she was the one, the answer to the crisis howling through his world.
He feared saying too much or not enough.
If he knew her better, he’d know how to proceed, what to say to encourage her.
Instead he had to do what was for him the hardest thing in the world: keep his trap shut.
He led her from the library, which he could tell had caught her attention. Her heart rate had increased and what had she said? That she could live here?
For a few seconds he’d felt hopeful, but no decision had followed.
“Where is your fieldwork,” he asked, at last.
“On a small, primitive island in Malaysia. I’ve been planning this trip for years.”
The words spilled from his mouth. “All those women you saw in the Dark Cave system had plans as well.”
She turned to him, her light-blue eyes wide and accusing. “That’s not fair, Marius.”
He remained silent for a moment. He knew she hadn’t had an ideal life by any stretch of the imagination, but she’d never been enslaved or tortured.
Finally, he said, “You’re right and I shouldn’t have said it.” Yet he was glad he had. If she was going to walk away from this, he wanted her to know that he believed she was doing the wrong thing.
He gestured to a small doorway at the far end of the space. She followed behind as he showed her several guest quarters, simple rooms with en suite bathrooms.
A billiard room surprised her. “You must have expected to have guests one day.”
He shrugged. The small talk was setting his nerves on fire. “Maybe. Someday.” How could he think about entertaining when his world was in crisis?
“You’re angry.”
“Of course I’m angry. I don’t understand how, after all you’ve seen, you could hesitate.” There, he’d said it straight out.
She grabbed his elbow, forcing him to stop. He turned to glare at her.
“Well, let me explain it this way. Imagine aliens abduct you and you end up in their society and they tell you you’re the only one who can fix their world but you’ll probably have to give up your life to do it. How quick would you be to jump in?”
“I don’t think it’s a fair analogy.”
“That’s because you’re the alien in my world. I’m sorry, Marius, but this is really shortsighted on your part. Your world has had this problem for a long time, yet you haven’t been able to do anything about it. And I’m not even sure I can really help in the way you think I can.” She folded her arms across her chest. “You’re asking too much.”
His frustration pounded inside his head but only because he feared for his world and knew in his gut that she could help.
He also respected her position. But what would it require to convince her to stay, to work with him … to be with him.
Maybe that was the real issue. He hated the thought of Shayna leaving his life so soon. What he’d shared with her, even over a period of hours, he’d never shared with anyone. He might not understand the why of it, but she meant something to him.
And he wanted her to stay.
* * *
What Marius had said was both harsh and unnecessary and had ticked Shayna off. If she’d been less compassionate, she would have seized on his criticism and used it as an excuse to walk away.
