perfection. “You’d have to worry about the Towers no matter who you were with. Everyone has to worry about the Towers! There are dangers out there that everyone has to deal with. You can’t escape that!”
“Yes, but it is worse because of who you are.” Her lovely voice was calm and even, unmoved by my rising hysteria. But then, she’d had plenty of time to think about this. She’d had time to work out all the arguments in her head. “You’ve had people within the Towers hunting you and it will happen again. When I chose to be with you, I knew that I was a target if they ever discovered our relationship. I happily accepted that risk for myself, but I can’t do that with our child.”
“Please, don’t do this, Trixie,” I said softly, but I couldn’t put any force behind it because I understood her argument. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to protect our child from the danger that followed me like a black shadow waiting to cast its dark pall over those I loved.
“I love you, Gage.” Her voice broke and the tears started down her cheeks again. “I love who you are and I’m so proud that you can help people with your gifts. I would never change that about you, but I think this is the sacrifice that we must make for your gifts. I’m sorry.”
I stood staring at her for several seconds, my brain locked in a useless loop of trying to find a way around her arguments. I needed a solution, a guarantee that she and the baby would be safe. But there wasn’t one. So long as the Towers existed, so long as I was cursed with this gift for magic, I couldn’t give her the safety she demanded.
“When are you leaving?” I asked, my voice was raw and rough as sandpaper.
“Soon. Eldon is coming to get me.”
A bitter, sarcastic laugh escaped me. “I’m sure your brother was thrilled to hear your news.”
“Eldon doesn’t hate you. You fixed it so that I am welcome among my people again and your actions have resulted in his wife being pregnant with their second child.”
I nodded because I was simply out of words.
“Our child will be happy and safe, I promise you.”
“But I will never see you or our child.”
Trixie didn’t respond because I was right. To keep her and the baby safe, I had stay away from them. I would never hold my son or daughter. I would never see their smile and their first steps. I would never hold Trixie again.
“Will you let me see you one last time before you leave?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I don’t know which of us cracked first, but in the next second she was in my arms, my face buried in her hair while her nails scored my back in her attempts to get as close to me as possible. Drawing in a shuddering breath to get a handle on my emotions again, I lowered my mouth to hers, but at the first touch of her lips, I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. Clothes were torn away, leaving us pressed skin to skin. That night, we made love again and again. Sometimes it was fast and violent, filled with rough and desperate caresses, as if we were in a rush to be merged at last. Other times, it was a slow exploring as if each of us were trying to memorize every inch of the other person so that it was imprinted forever on our brains.
It was shortly after dawn when I lay on my side beside Trixie. She was deep in sleep, her lovely face wiped clean of worry. I placed my hand over the slight mound of her abdomen where my child was growing within her. Was this Squall sleeping inside of her? When I met the little boy’s soul at Gaia’s, I’d instinctively known that he would be my son one day. I just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Was this him now, so close to me and yet on the cusp of being stolen away?
A small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. I’d find a way to keep them safe. Even if I had to tear down each of the Ivory Towers brick by brick with my bare hands, I’d keep Trixie and my child safe and at my side.
Part 2
DEMON’S VOW
CHAPTER 1
Gideon appeared on my doorstep less than an hour after Trixie left for her own place.