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“The moment I saw your eyes, I knew you were Raintree. I managed to see into your thoughts enough to learn you were a princess and that you were slated to become some sort of guardian,” Judah admitted. “I picked up only fragments of thought before I realized that, for the most part, your thoughts were shielded.”
“You used a shield, too. A powerful shield. I just didn’t realize it at the time,” she said. “I thought it strange that I couldn’t read you at all, that when I touched you, I sensed only that I could trust you. You blocked me completely and then sent me a deceptive message.”
“I did what was necessary in order to get what I wanted.”
“And you wanted me.”
“Very much.”
Why did he make his reply sound as if he were talking about the present and not the past? Even if he did want her now, he wanted only the use of her body, just as he had that night seven years ago.
No, that wasn’t the complete truth. He h
ad wanted more than her body that night. He had wanted to take a Raintree princess’s innocence and make her fall in love with him. He had done both.
“Why didn’t you use protection that night?” Mercy asked.
His mouth curved upward in a sarcastic smirk. “Why didn’t you?”
“I could say that it was because I was young and stupid and got carried away with feelings I’d never experienced. But the truth is that when I knew I was going to spend the night with you, give myself to you…I tried to conjure up a temporary protection spell. Apparently it didn’t work.”
“Apparently.”
“So what’s your excuse?”
“I thought I was protected,” he admitted.
Her eyes widened. “You used a sexual protection spell, too?”
He nodded. “Sort of. A long-term gift that my cousin Claude and I have been exchanging since we were teenagers. It worked perfectly with Ansara and human women.”
“If we were both protected, then how—oh, my God! Sexual protection spells and gifts must not work when a Raintree mates with an Ansara.”
“At least not in our case,” Judah agreed.
“I don’t understand. They should have worked. We should have been protected.”
“The only explanation I can think of is that Eve was meant to be.”
“Are you saying you believe that a higher power ordained Eve’s conception?”
“It’s possible. Perhaps she was born for a specific reason.”
Judah sounded so certain, as if he knew something she didn’t. But that wasn’t possible, was it? He might be a talented Ansara, with many abilities, but he was not a seer who could look into the future.
“Did someone tell you that Eve was destined to—”
“No one knew about Eve’s existence, except for you and Sidonia, until three days ago. How could anyone have told me anything about her?”
“Yes, of course.”
“She’s an amazing child, our little Eve.”
When he stared at Mercy, visually stripping her bare as he so often did, she glanced away. “If by chance you encounter any other Raintree while you’re here, tell them your name is Judah Blackstone, and that you’re an old friend of mine from college. We’ve allowed visitors to come to the sanctuary before, friends of my family who needed the peace and solitude the home place offers. No one will question you further.”
“And if Eve tells someone that I’m her father, how will we handle that?”
“I’ll speak to her and explain that, for the present, we need to keep that fact our little secret.”
