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“You’re being awfully cold with me. There is something wrong, I can tell, so why not just tell me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing wrong.” She laughs, but it’s forced and grates on my ear.
“Why are you acting dumb with me, Maya?”
“You’re the one being weird here.”
I slam a hand down on the table, startling her as she jumps back.
“That’s it!” I yell. “Stop playing fucking mind games with me and be honest! I brought you up here into the warmth and comfort of my own private quarters for the better part of two weeks, yet this is how you treat me? You can’t even answer a question?”
She grunts and looks away, crossing her arms.
“Is it not enough that I plucked you away from the rest of the humans? Do you –”
I stop when I see a tear fall down her cheek. A shred of guilt tells me it would be wise not to keep yelling at her.
More than anything, I am hurt as to why she’s pulling away. I wonder if she no longer trusts me, or if she ever did to begin with. But I say nothing, not wanting to appear weak in front of her.
“Please don’t yell at me,” she whispers, her voice breaking as she seemingly fights back more tears.
What is it I’m getting wrong here? I think to myself. Do Zalith and Lasta have something that I don’t? The fact that they could keep their mates quite content, while I thought I had offered this human every privilege I could think of and she still isn’t happy, irks my pride.
It’s only made worse when I recall that she isn’t my mate and I shouldn’t give a damn about any of this in the first place.
Still, I try thinking of something to cheer her up, walking over to join her as she sits on the edge of the bed.
“I can see that you’re not happy here,” I say in a gentle tone. “I don’t suppose I can blame you. You know that there are humans living in Lodra, too?”
“I bet they get treated the same here,” she whispers.
“Not quite. In fact, some of them even seem happy.”
She turns to me with an inquisitive look.
“Happy? I find that hard to believe.”
“Generally speaking, humans have better treatment over there than they do here. Call it love, but things seemingly improved for them when some nagas took them as mates.”
As I continue speaking, Maya’s face lights up. For the first time this evening, she’s paying me proper attention.
“So what you are saying is that humans are free in Lodra?” she asks, a hint of excitement in her tone. Before I can answer, she’s up on her feet, looking hopefully out the window. “A place like that is where I need to be…”
I watch her as she smiles, and that’s when it hits me. Yadat and Lodra are stark in their treatment of humans, that much I already knew, but I have been fighting to destroy a place where Maya would be liberated and no doubt happier than she is here.
I keep my shame to myself as I return to the table to pour myself another drink. I stare into the glass, twirling the paquir around as I mull in my thoughts.
Damn it… How did it ever come to this? I came here to overthrow Prince Zalith and take revenge on Lasta for ousting me, and yet here I sit, investing myself into the very thing that I took issue with in the first place.
I look up at Maya, her hand placed longingly on the window. A small part of me deep within knows that she deserves better than this. I want to give her what she wants. She has earned her happiness, but it’s easier said than done.
The soldier in me reminds myself of the mission at hand. My job is to bring Lodra down and stage a takeover.
There’s no way I’m going to be able to do this and give Maya what she wants, possibly needs, at the same time.
“Damn it.”
“What’s that?” Maya remarks, glancing at me with that beautiful smile of hers.
