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It was well past midnight and the wave of diners had long since dispersed. Davian had not joined them earlier, opting to eat alone, as he’d done for over a week now. Tonight he’d merely picked at his food, not having much of an appetite.
Ignoring Sheena’s question, he asked, “Have you been to the village?”
“Not since the night of the battle.” Sinking into a chair at one of the long, wide tables that sat fifty, she said, “I feel bad about that. I chastised Jade and told her she wasn’t in this alone, and then I stopped seeing her. That’s not how friends treat each other.”
Davian mentally concurred, though… He’d not spoken with the woman he loved since that fateful night, either. Therefore, he took great interest in Sheena’s reason for her actions. “Why haven’t you gone to see her?”
The vampire shook her head. “I’m not sure.” Her gaze lifted to meet his. “Why haven’t you?”
Davian pushed aside his plate. Surprisingly, his answer came without thought. “I’ll cave if I do. I’ll let her convince me she did the right thing by disregarding my orders. And I’m not inclined to let her off the hook.”
“But you’ll forgive her someday, won’t you?”
He stood. “Forgiveness isn’t the issue. I owe her that, if for no other reason than the things I’ve done that she’s forgiven me for. But accepting her disobedience will only encourage her to continue doing as she pleases, without much thought to her own safety.”
“I disagree,” Sheena said in a low tone.
He stared at her, perplexed. “Meaning?”
“She’ll be this way regardless of whether or not you condone or condemn her behavior. You can’t change her, my Lord.” Sheena stood as well. “And isn’t that one more thing you admire about her?”
She left the dining hall without another word. Davian hung his head and sighed. With a half-snort, he wondered why he hadn’t taken a page from the book he’d given Jade and fallen in love with a woman with an obsequious veneration. One who would revere him enough to the point of subservience.
But then a sentiment she’d shared with him one evening came back to him.
How boring would I be if I obeyed every command you issued?
Jade Deville could never be boring.
Nor could she ever truly be safe.
Unless, of course, he married her and granted her immortality.
He walked out of the room as he stewed over the conundrum. By the time he reached his study, he wasn’t any more sure of his dilemma with Jade than he’d been a week ago, following the battle. Maybe humans and demons weren’t meant to interact socially. Perhaps they were meant to stay on their own sides of the border, co-existing from afar.
Naturally, the painful part of this theory was the obvious fact that he loved Jade. Deeply. More than he’d ever imagined loving anyone. He agonized over how desperately he wanted to see her, how much he missed her.
Conversely, he’d still not gotten beyond wanting to wring her neck.
So he poured a glass of brandy and sat at his desk. He had ample work to do, particularly correspondence amongst the stewards under his charge and the kings on the six other continents that would occupy his thoughts and time.
Keeping Jade from his mind was not easy, but it was necessary.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Weather-wise, March was a tricky month for Ryleigh. The sun could break through the clouds on a day when the snow didn’t fall and help to melt the drifts. The temperature overnight, however, would turn everything icy. Yet if there were enough sunny days, the banks slowly diminished. Only to be rebuilt when another storm hit.
It had been all Jade could do to keep from shoveling a path from her house to the church, tunneling her way to the snow level that had been about mid-calf deep the night she’d lost the necklace. But doing so would have increased her chances of moving the pendant unwittingly and tossing it aside with a heap of snow.
The white mounds, though, had succumbed to a week of unseasonably warm weather, and only barely covered the ground. So the search was on.
She traded her day shifts for night ones with Toran and scoured the area in front of her cottage, hoping the rays from overhead would catch the diamonds and make them sparkle enough to signal her of the necklace’s whereabouts.
Three days later and still unsuccessful, she branched out to the east. She was in the woods after the sun set, now using a lantern to guide her, when she heard footsteps behind her. They were so light and perfectly measured, she didn’t reach for her sword.
Standing, she turned and faced Sheena. “Hi.”
“Hi,” her vampire friend said, a contrite look on her striking, alabaster face. “I’m sorry I’ve waited so long to see you again.”
