Page 7 of The Dragon Queen
We’d spent the last week apart, and it had been torture. I didn’t want our time together to be torture too. “Have you told Queen Eldinar?”
He turned back to me quickly, provoked by the question. His dark eyes seared into mine as he absorbed what I’d asked. He didn’t answer, and that seemed intentional.
“I’ve thought nothing of your closeness…until you called her Eldi. I’ve never even heard my uncle call her that. And that level of closeness can only be earned. It’s earned through challenges and secrets. So, have you shared that information with her?”
He continued to stare at me. “This is not how I want to spend the time we have left.”
My heart started to race faster. “Why won’t you answer the question?”
“Because I don’t have to.”
My entire body tightened toward my spine, and my chest constricted over my heart. The beats were harder. A twinge of pain burst inside me and circulated in my veins. “Why would you confide in her…and not me?”
“I never said I confided in her?—”
“You did when you refused to answer the question. Now I’m forced to draw my own conclusions, and it seems to me that you trust her more than you trust me. And if that’s true…is there more to that relationship?”
His eyes narrowed further, his eyebrows scrunching up at the question. “You insult me.”
“You insult me.”
He gave a slight shake of his head.
“I’m not blind. I know how beautiful she is?—”
“Youareblind,” he barked, his voice rising. “Because her restrained and meticulous beauty doesn’t compare to your strength and resilience and fire. She’s a beautiful work of art to most men, but to me, she’s a black-and-white sketch. Yourcanvas is an explosion of color that I would hang over my bed. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I’m numb to hers. If you understood the depth of my feelings and the flames of my attraction, you would understand how ridiculous your accusation is.”
“If that’s true, then why confide in her and not me?”
He stilled once again, his nostrils flared in annoyance. “I never said I did?—”
“Then answer the question.”
He bowed his head and released a heavy sigh. “Calista…” His eyes remained down as he tried to find the words, as he tried to navigate the situation that caused me pain. “I need you to trust me.”
“Tell me why you can confide in her and not me?—”
“Because I can’t.” He lifted his head and looked at me again. “And not because I trust her more than you. Not because I desire her. Not for any nefarious reason whatsoever.”
I continued to stare, my heart wanting to trust him when my mind knew I shouldn’t.
“Baby.” His eyes burned deep into mine. “Please trust me.”
“And if this were reversed, you would trust me?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “I trust you more than anyone except Khazmuda.”
“And Queen Eldinar, apparently.”
He winced in annoyance before he gave a sigh. “If you have any doubt about my feelings toward you, then I’m obviously not doing my job right. I thought my love and obsession and insanity were obvious every time I look at you, every time I touch you, every time I fuck you. I said I would marry you if I was lucky enough to do so, that you would be the mother of the children I so desperately want to have, that you would rule my kingdom as my queen, and I would rule our bed as your king.” His voice started to rise as he continued to speak, his eyes growing impassioned with his words.
“I don’t doubt all of those things, Talon?—”
“Then let this go.”
“I just don’t understand?—”
“And you will never understand,” he snapped. “Trust me, you don’t want to understand. Perhaps I look like an asshole to you right now, but just know that I’m protecting you from shit that you don’t want to know.” He bowed his head again, trying to hide the rage that melted his flesh as he boiled on the inside. “Please…let this go.”