"Definitely." He hesitated, his gaze sweeping my body before coming to rest briefly on my lips. Desire spun around me, but its sweet heat disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "You need to rest."
I couldn't disagree with that. But I also didn't want to get into that bed alone.
"Azriel—"
"No," he said softly. "I want what you want, Risa, but it is better that we fight this. Assimilation is a very real threat."
"But it's not assimilation you truly fear, is it?" I said it softly, my gaze searching his. Looking for the emotions he was never going to reveal, but that I nevertheless knew were there. The hum of them echoed through the deeper parts of my being, warm and precious.
For a moment I thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he said softly, "No."
"Then for once tell me the truth, Azriel. What is it you truly fear?"
His hesitation was longer this time.
"What I fear," he said eventually, "is us."
Chapter 11
Of all the answers I'd expected, that certainly wasn't one of them. I reached for him, but he stepped away from me.
"You do not understand," he said, his mismatched blue eyes glowing with a fierceness that was part determination, part desperation. "I have a task to achieve, one that is vitally important to both our worlds. I cannot let emotion get in the way or cloud my judgment."
"But this isn't about emotion—"
"It is, and we both know it."
His words should have made me want to dance. Instead, they scared the hell out of me. Because he was right. Whatever this thing between us actually was, it was certainly more than just sexual attraction. It had the potential to be something far deeper, far stronger. It was something that could change both our lives, in ways I couldn't even begin to see or imagine.