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Demetria cleared her throat. “I will take my leave, Sire.” She inclined her head at Ishtar, who didn’t deign her a glance.
“Maxim will escort you out.” Once the two had disappeared down the path, Cain cut his gaze to Ishtar, his jaw hardening. “You go too far.”
“Andyouused to be more fun,” she shot back. She bent slightly, making her blonde ringlets tumble forward, as she smiled at a snake that zipped through the long grass. Cain inwardly snorted. If she thought she was subtle in her attempt to flash her cleavage, she was wrong.
She returned her focus to him. “You are obviously in a frightful mood, so I will not bother staying long. I came to see if perhaps you would like to escort me to the festivities tomorrow evening.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
She frowned. “Whyever not? It would give us a chance to catch up. We haven’t spoken much since I woke. We have arrived at events together before.”
“That was a very long time ago.”
“A time when we were … close, yes.”
They’d never really been ‘close.’ Not in an emotional sense, at least. Neither had ever cared for the other. What brought them together had been simple: He’d been attracted to the untamed passion for life she’d once had, and she’d enjoyed that he didn’t fall all over himself to please her the way so many other men did.
The trouble was that Ishtar wasn’t interested in an equal partnership, and Cain wasn’t interested in being a mere consort who obeyed her every directive. In that sense, their on-and-off relationship had been more of a battle for dominance. But it had given them both a reprieve from the relentless boredom that plagued every Ancient. For a while, anyway. He’d soon tired of it. Of her. Of things always ending the same way.
“It’s not a time in my life that I intend to repeat,” he told her. “I’ve been clear on that.”
“‘Rude’ is what you have been. And unnecessarily so.” She came closer, swaying her hips. “I have been asleep for over three centuries. Surely you missed me just a little.”
He sighed. “If you need someone to shine your ego, I suggest you find Solomon.”
She made a face. “He gives me my own way in everything. He does not push back or demand to be counted. Not like you. You always challenged me. I need that in a man. Need someone who is my equal.”
Cain gave her a bored look. “Do you really think I’m going to fall for this? It’s not like I fell for it last time you came to me swearing that you wanted a true partnership.” He’d almost laughed, recognizing it for the lie that it was.
“Idowant us to be equals, I just do not know how to have a relationship like that. You could show me—”
“Why are you pushing this when there are dozens of men out there who’ll tell you exactly what you want to hear?”
“Because they do notknowme. You might look down on me in some ways, but at least you know me. See me. Sometimes we just need to be seen. And you … you are the first person I thought of when I woke. The person I most looked forward to talking with. But you won’t even make time for me. You won’t even give us a chance.”
“And what would be the point, Ishtar? You like to be seen. Until you don’t. Until you want to pretend you’re not riddled with flaws and vulnerabilities like everyone else, and so you then lash out at the people closest to you to drive them away. I’m not signing up for that.”
“All I ever wanted—”
“Was me on a leash, just like the souls you own,” he finished. “That’s never going to happen.”
She studied him hard. “You are different than you were before I chose to Rest. You hear everything I am saying, but you are not touched by it, are you? It’s not even that you don’t care, it’s that youcan’t.” She swallowed. “I remember that stage. Emotion often just slips right off you. It does not always take hold.” She took a step toward him. “You can talk to me, you know.” She sighed when he didn’t speak. “But you won’t, will you?”
No. She’d never been someone he confided in. Not even when they shared a bed.
“Have you ever really trusted anyone, Cain?”
“Yes.” Very few of those people hadn’t let him down.
Sorrow lined her face. “But I am not one of them, am I?”
“I’m not buying the oh-so sad act. You don’t trust me any more than I trust you.”
Her face went hard in an instant. “Fine.” She notched up her pointed chin. “If you change your mind about tomorrow evening, I will be at home.”
Yeah, and if he turned up to escort her anywhere, she’d sniff at him and declare that she’d already procured someone else to accompany her.
She flounced off, putting extra sway in her hips.
