“I thought I was in love once,” he continued. “She was beautiful and, unfortunately, far too clever for her own good. She fooled me for nearly a decade before I learned she was a spy for my father.”
“What did you do?”
Silence met her naïve question.
“Right. People who betray you don’t fare well.”
“Except you,” he sighed. “You I followed across the country without a second thought.”
A curious warmth spiraled through her at his words.
“You had a hard life.”
“No worse than yours.”
She snorted in derision. “I didn’t have to navigate court politics. Besides, I had a man who loved me and took care of me. My sob story doesn’t compare.”
“Blake is fortunate to have you in his life.”
She was silent for a moment, concentrating on the road. “No,” she whispered. “He’d be far better off if he’d never met my mom.”
She noted movement out of the corner of her eye as he shifted towards her.
“He loved her.”
“Some love. Caring for my mother nearly destroyed him. It dragged him into her crazy world where his compassion was used against him again and again. What happened to him…I will never let that happen to me. That kind of cruel, vicious love is the only model I’ve ever seen.”
“There are other kinds.” The words were soft, so quiet she barely heard them.
Other kinds. She glanced at him, wishing she could believe. Logically she knew not every relationship ended in disaster but all she’d ever seen of marriage was pain and disappointment.
“You know what Blake would say to my mother?”
Jaral stayed silent.
“‘I love you,’” she recited. “‘Forever and always.’” Darcy shook her head at the memory. “I must have heard those words a thousand times. And he meant it. Forever and always. I never understood how you could feel that way about another person. My mother was difficult but still he stood by her. He loved her until her last day, no matter what sins she committed against him. I can’t conceive of caring for someone so completely that you never think about walking away.”
“In my world,” he said after a moment, “no one would make a promise like that. Forever is a long time and love is fleeting. Affection, compassion—they are liabilities in my world. Caring for someone gets you dead very, very fast.”
“Why would you want to stay in a place like that?”
He didn’t reply and she thought the conversation was over. She’d overstepped.
But he surprised her. “I didn’t know there was another way,” he confessed.
She felt the intensity of his gaze on her but didn’t dare another look. The more he spoke the more she felt like she was missing something. Some important piece of the puzzle that she didn’t understand.
“There’s always an alternative,” she said, trying to ignore the butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
Clothes rustled as he settled back into his seat. “So I am beginning to understand.”
Darcy shifted uncomfortably. This conversation felt far too intimate. It was one thing to share reminiscences last night when she was half-asleep and thoroughly sated, but here, in the light of day, there was no way to ignore the connection growing between them with every word.
A connection she shouldn’t want but one that seemed to be all she could think about. When had he become someone she couldn’t put from her mind? Someone she’d fight to defend?
When had he become someone she wanted to keep in her life?
Chapter Ten
The sky was dark and Jaral’s shoulder had all but healed when they finally reached their destination.
Darcy parked down the road from Sarah’s house, trying to come up with a decent plan.
“Just announce your purpose and take what you need,” Jaral suggested.
After hours of listening to his tales of court life during the drive, she could understand the sentiment. He was used to taking what he wished because he could. But this was her world and there was no way she was letting him near Sarah.
“You will stay in the car,” she ordered. “I’ll go in and speak with the kid’s mother. All we need is a vial of her blood. A little needle prick and we’re all set. But we are going to do this legally and without traumatizing a little girl.”
“We don’t have time to waste. I am coming with you.”
She shook her head. “If her mom knows about demons, you will send her running from the house with her child. I will do this and then we will plan our next move.”
His dark eyes studied her. “You are asking me to trust you. I wait here and put my faith in you to see this job through.”