Page 11 of Clash of Kingdoms
Her mother had been so focused on Uncle Ian that she probably didn’t know about Aurelias at all. “Well…I’m kinda with someone.”
“Ethan?”
“Gods, no,” I said quickly, knowing I hadn’t thought of him once since the last time we’d spoken. “His name is Aurelias.”
“Never heard a name like that.”
“And you’ve never seen a man like this…”
“Ooooh, you gotta tell me everything.”
So I did. Told her every last detail.
She leaned forward as she listened to it all, her fingers around her wineglass without taking a drink. Completely engrossed, she didn’t interrupt me once. “Girl, I’ve never been so jealous in my life.”
“Well, you won’t be jealous when this is all over.”
“Why not?”
I told her the truth, that this would end when the war was over.
“Why does it have to end?” she asked. “I don’t understand. Don’t let this man go, Harlow.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Complicated, how?”
“Well, he’s an immortal vampire, and the only way I can join him is if I forsake my soul…and my ability to have children.”
She turned quiet, the light dimming in her eyes again. “Oh…”
“So, I asked him if he would be willing to be human…and he said no.”
Her body slumped a little farther. “Oh.”
“Yeah…”
She looked down, at a loss for words.
“So don’t be too jealous. He’s the man I’ve always wanted, and I’d marry him tomorrow if he asked me. But it’s all going to fall apart and wreck my soul. I’ll have to watch him sail from these shores, knowing I’ll never see him again. He’ll bed a line of beautiful women until he forgets me, and then I’ll marry someone whom I love…but not quite as much.”
Lila reached her hand for mine. “I’m sorry, girl.”
My fingers squeezed hers. “Thanks.”
“Maybe he’ll change his mind about being human.”
I shook my head. “He’s lived over fifteen hundred years. He’s not going to give that up to live one life with me—and I don’t blame him.”
“If the situations were reversed, you wouldn’t do the same?”
“I don’t know…” If my family were immortal, I wasn’t sure if I could leave them, if I could put them through that pain to spend one life with a single person, especially across the sea where they would hardly ever see me. “It’s hard to say.”
“Then maybe it’s better to end it now before you get in deeper.”
I released a chuckle. “I don’t think I can get in any deeper, Lila.”
“And I guess he wouldn’t protect you anymore.”