Mark of Love (Love Mark #3) - Linda Kage Page 0,73
going.”
“So, what?” He spun toward me, suddenly irate. “You just plan to leave me behind?” Something in his gaze shifted. The anger drained so hurt and betrayal could fill his eyes. “Alone?”
The word alone struck me hard. That was the very reason I was so intent to help Melaina find the second amulet and go to Earth with her. So I wouldn’t be left here alone.
Dammit. How had he known to use that very word against me to argue his case?
Hardening my jaw, I shook my head, refusing to fall victim to his mock pity party. “Alone?” I repeated, lifting a censorious eyebrow. “Give me a break. You were leading an entire kingdom’s army when you came across my path. So don’t try to play on my sympathies with some lonely act. You can go back to being your queen’s right-hand man once I’m gone.”
He stepped toward me, his lips quivering with rage. “Except Queen Nicolette isn’t my true love. You are. You’re my future, whether you want to accept it or not. You’re the only shot I have at getting a truly happy life, and I’m not going to just stand aside and watch you walk off into the sunset without me. We’re in this shitshow together, woman. Until the end. There is no going off anywhere without me.”
With a growl, I stomped my boot on the ground. “God, you sound like such an overbearing caveman right now.”
His eyebrows lifted. “I have no idea what a caveman is,” he admitted, “but they must be pretty damn smart if they think remaining with their partner through thick and thin is a good idea.”
“Jesus.” I threw my hands in the air, beyond frustrated. “Why are you fighting this so hard? Your mark will disappear when I go to Earth, so you won’t feel so connected to me anymore, anyway. You’ll be free.” I waved my hands like a bird flapping its wings. “So just let it happen.”
“Except I don’t want to be free of you because, newsflash, empress…” He moved even closer, towering over me. “I like the connection.”
“You what?” He was so close, I could see golden flecks in his eyes, just as he’d claimed to see some in mine earlier. They sparkled as if they were catching fire from all his heated emotions.
“I don’t want to lose my connection to you,” he repeated, making my pulse flutter rapidly.
I sucked in a deep breath and blinked before wrinkling my nose in confusion. “But why would you want that kind of connection to a complete stranger?”
I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want me that strongly if they did know me, but he’d still basically just met me. I couldn’t mean that much to him.
“Because it’s a security I haven’t had in a long time,” he admitted. “After I lost my parents when I was eight, I only got five years with my grandparents before they too were gone. Then I was shipped off to my uncle Everett’s family, where I only stayed for a couple of years before joining up with King Ignatius’s army as soon as I turned eighteen, hoping to find a place to belong there. But they shipped me off to Donnelly when Princess Allera married Prince Brentley, and then I was assigned to be Nicolette’s personal bodyguard. And yes, she did grow to be my best friend, a sister of my heart, and the closest thing I have to family, so when she became the queen last moon cycle and asked me to be her army’s commander, of course I said yes. What else was I supposed to do? Where else was I supposed to go? I might have plenty of friends, but she was the only thing I had that somewhat resembled family. I would do anything for her, but I don’t want to be a knight forever and fight wars and kill people. I just want to settle down with my true family and solve mysteries.”
He stared at me a long moment after confessing all that. I stared back, not sure what to say.
A second later, his heated feelings drained from him, loosening his shoulders and bringing sad hopelessness to his eyes. “When I first felt a spark in my tattoo, telling me you were near, I was so happy and eager for my connection to you, I was ready to give up everything to follow you wherever you went. And I still am.”
Pressing the heel of his hand to the side of his head