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“You think?” Her tiredness and numbness were leaving, and rage was replacing it all. “You sought to give yourself as some sort of prize.”
He shook his head. “No, the bond is real. The binding is real. None of that was fake nor the accompanying feelings you brought out in me.”
“So now you’re pretending to feel something for me?” she asked hotly.
“There is no pretending. We’ve been connected in some way since you were born into your world. That we have to bond for the safety of our worlds was an occurrence I never saw. Please don’t make this so hard.”
Some of his calm was slipping. Suddenly, she wanted to push him all the way over the edge. “Make this so hard? On you? I wanted to believe the best of you, but I knew. Like a fool, I knew something was up and tried to convince myself otherwise!”
Relian didn’t reply.
Frustration exploded through her chest, made all the more potent by the possibility of his affections being nothing but a fricking charade. Home seemed farther away than ever, torn away from her by secrets and word games.
She stood abruptly, but he grabbed her arm.
“Sit down, please,” he said slowly, rising to his feet.
“Right now, I don’t want to be anywhere near you.” Not now. Maybe not ever. She ignored how he loomed over her. No matter how she pulled at her arm, he didn’t release her.
“We need to talk.”
She aimed a glare at him. “Talk? You want to talk now? You had over half a year to tell me this crap. Half a year!”
He flinched.
A cold wave of satisfaction hit. “You never stopped treating me like a child. That or you think I’m a fragile half-wit who can’t handle the truth.” With a tug, she yanked her arm. He held fast to her.
“I never said you were either of those things.” His glowing, heated eyes said otherwise.
“You didn’t have to. You don’t trust me in some manner. What else am I to think? You hold all the knowledge and only grudgingly part with little bits of it.” Her anger rose, usurping the frustration. “Is that why humans and elves didn’t get along? You gave us enough tidbits to paint a partially correct yet confusing picture, and we tired of your mind games? Lord knows you’re all so infuriating.”
His face grew progressively darker during her tirade. So he didn’t like what she had to say? Good! Her words were true.
“No,” he grated out. “We would’ve never...that is not why we left.”
“Then why?” The heat of her demand coursed through her veins like liquid fire, making her voice tremble. She wanted a straight answer for once.
His face tightened as bitterness fell like a shroud around him. “Humans were fragile, fickle things and still are. That’s why they—you—can’t be trusted with sensitive information. You break like a child’s toy and are filled with just as much maturity.”
His words not only staggered and enraged her, but it also hit too close to her past. As a teen she’d felt broken and fragile because of him and the veil. Those same emotions were echoing through her right now.
What a sanctimonious pig. He wanted to go down that road, did he? Not a wise choice. Well, she’d be happy to oblige him, but she wouldn’t be the one coming out the fool.
After balling her free hand into a fist, she punched at his arm until he let go. So what if it hurt her hand more than it probably hurt his arm?
She forced herself to speak in a level tone, all previous trembling hidden away by the cold rage that suffused her. “Oh, so elf-kind cannot be so?”
Relian took a deep breath. An icy mask descended over his face. “Many temper such tendencies with age. We live our lives with more stoicism than you ever could.” His voice rang with conviction and assurance.
She growled at him. What he said had some truth to it, but the extreme years involved in such “tempering” couldn’t be overlooked. How dare he judge her people by the same standards to which he held his own? Humans had to pack as much living as possible into a score of years while elves had next to forever. Elves had a slower pace of life, thanks to their long lives, and that heavily influenced their mindsets. And, imagine, it still didn’t stop them from being liars.
“Well, after several millennia or more, I’d hope so.” It was her turn to take a deep breath to reign in her temper. “Whoever said humans never learn such control? Admittedly, we’ve not perfected it to your level, as we have only the short years given us. Is it fair we have eighty years or so, if we are lucky, to learn everything you deem necessary or proper that took you hundreds of years or even millennia? In fact, it’s something I believe you’re still honing down to a fine nothingness. Oh wait, unless it’s displeasure, superiority, horniness, or murderous tendencies that make an appearance. The other socially proscribed emotions!”
She stood rooted to the spot, her heart pounding in her head. She wanted to sit, wanted to explode, but all she could do was look at him. Stare into the eyes that had grown so wide before he shuttered all expression. Yes, he was closed off. She was so done with him, with the whole situation. “What a crock. I may have to stay here, but I sure as hell don’t have to spend ‘here’ with you. You’ve ruined what should’ve been the best years of my young life. No more. Go find yourself another guinea pig or whatever it is you’re looking for.”
Cal swung around to leave. As her hand fumbled for the doorknob, he slammed the door shut. She froze. Rough hands spun her around before his body pressed her against the door. Looking up into wild eyes, all she could think was, Oh crap, as his mouth crashed down on hers. He ravished her lips until he gained access to the inner reaches within. The surprise that held her immobile melted away, and she struggled against arms that were banded like steel around her. With a sob, she softened under his onslaught and responded to his kisses. She hated and wanted him in equal measures. Tears ran down into her mouth and mingled with the spicy taste that was uniquely Relian.
He uttered a muffled curse, pulling away and staring at her with an inscrutable face. Then he stalked to a side door. The sound of it slamming closed echoed through the room. She winced. As the adrenaline left, her body shook like jelly, and her knees gave out. She slid down the door and buried her head in her hands, not moving for a long time.
