“Holy cow,” she breathed.
“Yes,” he agreed. “For this reason, you are not safe here without protection. You are also not safe in your world. But I would feel better and more in control of your safety if you were in my world. After we’re through this tense period, we can again discuss what your future in this world will be. But for now, I’m asking you to allow me to see to your safety. It would mean much to me to know I’ve kept you safe from him and kept you safe here as well.”
He could see by the warmth that crept into her eyes and the softness that had settled about her mouth that she was going to concede and he relaxed.
Then she didn’t concede.
“I cannot go to Karsvall,” she informed him.
“Ilsa—”
“I can’t be around your children.”
He took in another breath, and guessing at her hesitancy, he explained, “They’ve been told of you. They understand.”
She held his eyes a moment before she looked to the side.
He watched her profile and suddenly it struck him with a bolt that electrified his entire frame.
He didn’t know what she was thinking.
He couldn’t predict what would come out of her mouth. He couldn’t read the flashes in her eyes. He could barely guess at the expressions on her face.
Not like he could with his Ilsa.
She was new.
He understood she was new, he just didn’t understand she was new.
Entirely new.
Gods.
She looked back at him, right in his eyes, but her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her when she said, “I lost two babies. A boy”—she pulled in a soft breath— “and a girl.”
His gut twisted.
Oh yes, she was new.
And now he knew he’d mined some of those depths that lurked behind her eyes.
He just wished he did not know what he’d unearthed.
But more, far more, he wished those losses were not buried in her soul.
“Logically,” she continued in her quiet voice, “I understand that they are not mine. Irrationally, I’ve tried to convince myself that they aren’t what I could have had in my world. But I know with the way things are with our worlds that they are.”
“Ilsa—”
Her eyes swam with tears and she whispered, “I can’t do it. I…” She swallowed and admitted, “It would kill me.”
It was then he found his mouth saying, “Tonight you stay at The Swan and rest. Tomorrow, we’re away to Bellebryn.”
She blinked before she breathed, “What?”
“Tomorrow, we’re away to Bellebryn.”
“Tomorrow…Bellebryn…” She shook her head sharply then asked, “What do you mean we?”