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“Good idea.”
He trotted away with an alacrity that demonstrated again how uncomfortable emotional conversations made him.
“Eddie.” Cronus pressed his massive body closer to her. “Your sire means well.”
Xerxes grumbled.
“He would like to protect you and do for you what he was unable to do before,” Cronus said.
She’d gone all these years without a father. Having one now would take some getting used to. “I know.”
“His motives are pure, but he does not know all.” Cronus’s hot breath warmed her nape. “He speaks from his experience, and that colors his view of matters.”
“Trust the master,” Xerxes said.
And right there was the problem, she didn’t trust Shade, and she for damn sure didn’t trust her feelings for him.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
A couple of what felt like hours later—Eddie had no way of telling time here—a green smudge appeared on the horizon. After her conversation with Wrath, she’d stuck close to Dee.
Shade appeared. “My demesne.” He turned those beautiful eyes on her. “The lads tell me your conversation with Wrath has upset you.”
“You did?"
Cronus and Xerxes refused to meet her eyes and kept their gazes stuck on the horizon.
Shade took her elbow and gently moved her away from Dee’s litter. “Want to tell me about that conversation?”
“No.” He already knew too much, and she felt vulnerable and exposed. “What I discuss with my father is between us.”
His lips quirked, but his gaze remained intent. “Not when I am the subject of that conversation.”
Eddie glared at the hounds. “What exactly did they tell you?”
“They told me that Wrath warned you against me.” Shade’s jaw tightened. “That Wrath has told you not to trust that your feelings for me are real.”
That was quite some chinwag the hounds had had with Shade. Heat strained her cheeks, and she couldn’t look at him. Her confusion and conflicted feelings would only be too clear for him to read. She’d never been any good at poker. “If you already know everything, why did you ask?”
“I don’t know how you feel.” Shade’s hand on her arm drew her to a stop. “I only know how I feel, and Wrath does not speak for me.”
Her mouth dried, and she dared a peek at him. “How you feel?”
“Eddie.” Shade cupped her face and turned her to look at him. A sweet, tender expression warmed his eyes. His voice grew deeper and infinitely gentle. “I would love to declare myself to you right here and now. But this is not the time or place, and I sense that you are not ready to hear what I have to say.”
Say it anyway, she wanted to yell past the blood rushing through her ears.
“I also understand you have fears because of who I am and what I am. So that leaves me with only one option.” He smiled.
“And what’s that?” All the breath felt like it was being sucked out of her lungs.
“A courtship.” Shade nodded. “I shall woo you with all the purpose and conviction of a being who has lost his heart to another. I shall give you time to get to know me, and to learn to trust me. And Eddie”—he leaned closer and dropped his voice to a raspy whisper—“I am both very persuasive and indefatigable.”
Her heart beat an irregular rhythm and felt like it was flinging itself against her ribs like a caged bird. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I quite simply adore you, Eddie. And I cannot contemplate the centuries ahead without you.”
