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Opening it, she let out a soft laugh. “I simply cannot convince you to ignore this date.”
Michael smiled. “I didn’t bring a gift. Just a bottle of wine.” She stepped aside, but something caught his attention and his friendly grin faded. “What is that?” he asked as he brushed aside the material of her sweater at her throat, where the top button was undone.
Jade flinched. Michael’s eyes popped. “Jesus Christ,” he said. “Those are diamonds!” Not a common stone for a villager to possess.
Closing the door behind them, Jade said, “Please don’t make a big deal out of this.”
“Really?” He huffed as he set the bottle of merlot on an end table. Her sword occupied the coffee table. She left it out of its protective casing, ready for use if needed. His gaze landed on it, and Michael raked a hand through his hair. “What is going on with you?”
With a dramatic sigh, she said, “Nothing. Tanner gave me the sword.”
He spied an object under the chair in the corner and knelt to retrieve it. Holding up half of a tapered candle, he sneered at her. “And you’ve been practicing with it.”
“That’s where that went.” She’d accidentally lopped off the top of the candle in its holder when she’d lost her balance the other day.
Standing, he handed her the remnant and then crossed his arms over his chest. “And what about the necklace? I’m pretty sure Tanner didn’t give that to you.”
“No, of course not.” She dropped the candle in the box from the wax maker’s shop.
Turning back to Michael, she found him awaiting her response, crooked brow and all.
“It’s just a necklace,” she said, in hopes of making light of the situation. She’d been wearing the piece of jewelry most of the day and hadn’t thought to remove it when she’d opened the door to find Michael standing on her patio.
“That is not just a necklace. And no human we know could afford one that ostentatious. Not even a Delfino.”
Frustration tinged her voice as she told him, “You know where it came from. Now let it go.”
“Jade.” He stared at her with an incredulous look on his handsome face. “Seriously? You and the Demon King?” He said it exactly as she had at the meeting hall when she’d challenged the explanation of Jinx’s death—and had found it inconceivable he’d struck up an amiable association with a vampire.
“It’s not what you think.”
His sharp laugh filled the small cottage. Unfolding his arms and raising them in the air, he asked, “What else could it be? You disappear into the castle for several nights and then I see something strange in your eyes, as though you have this huge secret you’re enjoying keeping to yourself, and now you’re wearing a necklace that probably costs more than our entire village and everything in it.”
“Get over it, Michael. The necklace is only a temporary gift.”
This took him aback. “How so?”
“Because my life is only temporary. He’ll come back for this someday.”
Michael’s dark-brown gaze turned shrouded with emotions she couldn’t read. “What kind of sick and twisted game is this?”
“It’s no game. It’s a human reality.”
He stared at her for endless seconds, clearly stunned and befuddled. Then he finally asked, “Is he in love with you?”
“I don’t know.” She turned away. If he were, that would delight her. If he weren’t, that would be a relief. Her life of contradictions continued.
“Are you in love with him?” Michael demanded in a low voice.
Her teeth caught her bottom lip before she carelessly blurted anything out. Rather, she wanted to think about her answer. His questions weren’t ones she’d posed to herself out of respect for her own sanity. And because it was futile to ponder the possibilities. Why waste so much mental energy on debating a moot point?
Facing Michael, she said, “I can’t define the relationship. I haven’t even seen him in weeks. He refuses to come back to the village because he thinks he’ll put me in danger.”
“So why give you the necklace? To remind you that you belong to him now, despite the fact you can’t be together? Isn’t that…cruel, Jade?”
“You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t.” His temper flared again as anger flashed in his eyes. “What are you doing all day, Jade? Wearing around the cottage a gift you can’t show to anyone else, while you pine after someone you can’t have? A demon. And not just any demon. No, you had to choose the king of demons.”
