“Are you untouched?”
Larissa turned to walk into her room. “My…sexual life…has nothing to do with what is occurring.”
He came before her, not letting her escape into her bedroom. “You say that you can think of no reason why the necromancers are targeting you. There is no overt reason, but there is some reason. They have gone to extraordinary lengths to apprehend you. No possibility can be overlooked.”
Larissa would not look him in the eye, instead tried to step around him. When she failed in her quest, she went still, looking down at the floor. Finally, she said, “Yes.”
Yes. How could one small word have such power over him, delivering a punch greater than any enemy who ever came before him? He worked saliva into his now-dry mouth to speak, feigning a calmness his heartbeats would easily belie. “Why does this embarrass you?”
She shrugged, still looking at the floor. “People usually don’t discuss their sexual history, or their complete lack thereof. And most people my age don’t have a complete lack thereof.”
The defensiveness in her tone hurt something in him. He did not like her feeling she was inadequate in any way. “I do not know the ways of humans, but while virginity is not held sacred, most of my Clan do not engage in sexual acts with anyone before they take a mate.”
That brought Larissa’s head up, her interest in the subject easily read on her face. “Really? Why is that?”
“Vulnerability.”
Larissa’s eyebrows creased. “I don’t understand.”
“A gargoyle is vulnerable during intimacy. There would be no better time for an enemy to strike.”
Her lips twisted, a smile that couldn’t quite form. “If that wasn’t so sad, there is a pithy comment in that statement.”
He reached out and smoothed back her hair. “What statement?”
“Your people have trust issues.”
“I have never denied this.”
She laughed a little, but her eyes widened, her lush mouth opening in surprise. “Wait. So does this mean you are…?”
She let the question hang, but what she was asking was clear. “I have never had a lover. I am as you are.”
“Oh.” She cleared her throat, her head once again hanging down, her gaze on the ground. Then without lifting her head, her eyes came back to his. “Valry?”
“No.”
Now her head lifted. “But you two are engag – I mean, Intended.”
“Yes. It is my duty to mate with her. As the strongest female, she will protect the Clan well, and any young we have will have the strength to protect the Clan in the future.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Wait, you don’t love Valry, but you’re going to marry her?”
“I must do what is best for my Clan, and my Clan will prosper with Valry as my mate.”
Larissa shook her head, though she seemed not aware of the movement. “You can’t be serious. Life isn’t worth living if you’re not with the one you love.”
“Humans can live with such fanciful notions. As leader, I am allowed no such luxury.”
“That’s bull!” The exclamation was a surprise, as was the finger that poked him in the chest. “I understand you are under pressures I can’t comprehend, but there is nothing strong or noble about picking a female you don’t love as your wife. It’s a cowardly way out.”
“Cowardly?” He had never been described that way in his life. He was the leader of the greatest warriors of this realm, and this little human would call him a coward? “Watch your words.”
“Oh, I am!” Her eyes were blazing, and in her anger she seemed to grow in size. “Only a coward would marry someone he doesn’t love. You know why? Because love is the ultimate vulnerability. It can put you on your knees and destroy parts of you that will never function again when it’s gone. A coward couldn’t handle that, so they would instead marry someone that could never happen with.”
“What would you have me do? Would you have me defy tradition and the will of my people?”
“Yes! Isn’t that the point of being here with me, to bring your people away from what they know to something better? Be with someone you love.” Her eyes were bright, shining with the ferocity of her belief while she spoke of love and cowardice.
“You do not understand.”
“Then make me understand. Make me understand why you would be with a female you don’t love when there is a female in front of you who…”
She faltered, her hand going over her mouth and stopping any more words from coming forth.
A female in front of him. A female who was warm and loving and brave and so damn desirable his teeth ached in want of her. “Make you understand, little human? How can I make you understand something that becomes less clear to me every time I am near you?”