his head to one side, still studying her. “The human world is very concerned with rights and privileges. Entitlement. Carpathians are about duty and honor. Responsibility. Our lives are very simple in that regard. My duty is to my prince and my lifemate first and then to my people. Your duty is the same. In that there is no decision to be made. It. Is. A. Fact. Can you deny the truth of that?”
She couldn’t. She wasn’t Carpathian and she hadn’t been raised in his world, but there was no denying that something powerful was between them. The connection grew stronger the more she was in his presence.
“There is no out for either of us. No divorce or separation. We are one, together yet separate. We cannot be apart. Not comfortably and not for long. You are two-thirds into my world. Already you are changing.”
She shook her head. “That’s not right. You don’t have my permission.”
“I don’t need your permission. It is your duty.”
She tipped up her chin, anger sweeping through her. “You don’t get to dictate my life. You can’t just force me to accept you.”
He was there then. Right in front of her, his body crowding hers, his arm sweeping around her back to keep her from falling as he propelled her backward fast. So fast. Her back hit the wall and she was caged. Held there. “You gave yourself to me, Charlotte. There is no taking that back. I told you then what I would do couldn’t be undone. The vows were made. In my world, we are man and wife. Our soul is once again back together, my dark to your light.”
She had. She’d done that. She even knew she was doing something crazy at the time. Something momentous. Still. She shook her head. “Not this. Exchanging blood. I didn’t agree to that.”
“You agreed to be mine. To come into my world.” He cupped her chin in the palm of his hand, forcing her head up. “There is no going back now. It is far too late for that. Even if I let you go, which would never happen, you would not survive and neither would I. We’re tied together.”
His thumb slid along her cheek, a soft caress that caught at her heart. She was terrified, yet at the same time she felt safe the moment he touched her. Safe. Protected. Belonging. He was magic. She knew she would never see another man. There was only Tariq. It seemed as if she’d known him all her life.
“I didn’t know what I was agreeing to,” she whispered, because there was no way to get her voice above a whisper. “I don’t want to be in a world where I have to look at human beings as prey.”
“You are not a predator, sielamet. You are the light to my darkness. You will always be you, a sweet, courageous woman lighting the way for her man.”
“You’re a predator,” she accused.
“Exactly. I will always be one. I was born to hunt and I will continue to do so. But I have always stayed in the world of humans, drawn to them, protecting them. That night, the night the Malinovs turned, they came back determined to wipe out the entire village where I worked to train the young men for battle. Fridrick and his brother were with them. Two others. It was a bloodbath, Charlotte. So many people killed unnecessarily because I refused to join them. They needed me dead. They wanted that. I became one of their bitterest enemies that night and I have hunted them through the centuries.”
She winced at the term centuries; she couldn’t help it. Centuries was a long, long time.
“Do not look so frightened. I will always be at your side. Always. You will be able to protect Lourdes and the others right along with me.” His mouth moved over her cheek, little kisses whispering against her skin. So soft. So compelling. His tongue teased the seam of her mouth. His body was warm and hard, the hand under her chin spanning her throat so that her pulse beat into his palm.
“I’m absolutely terrified,” she confessed.
“Sielamet, I know this is a leap of faith for you, but we can do this. You. Me. Very few people can have what we can. Together. I have so much love for you, Charlotte. So much. And it will only grow. Look into my mind and you’ll see everything you need to believe. I’m asking you to take that leap