His undead heart threatened to burst from his chest. She resembled Aphrodite rising from the sea in most every way. There was a fierceness in her gaze that made him quake with desire.
“Hello, Leo,” she said, coming to a stop only a few feet away. She placed a hand on her hip and fixed him with a serious frown. “We need to talk.”
Chapter Seventeen
Eina’s knees trembled beneath the weight of Leo’s heavy gaze. She hadn’t expected to find him here. If anything, she figured he’d be off at another poker match, getting into trouble once again. But here he was, in the middle of a political meeting, fighting for her people.
“Eina...” He took a hesitant step toward her.
“Stop.” She held up her hand and looked around at the few dozen people watching their little showdown. This wasn’t how she wanted to do this. If she was going to tell Leo exactly how she felt, it couldn’t be in front of strangers. “Not here.”
He rubbed a hand across his chest and grimaced. “Would a walk across the grounds suffice?”
“Yes, but there’s one thing I need to do before we go.” Turning toward Loriella, she took a deep breath and squeezed her hands into fists. “I’m sorry if this seems sudden, but I’ve changed my mind. If the position is still open, I’d like to accept.”
A satisfied grin played on the ancient mermaid’s lips. “Of course it is, and we’re honored that you would accept.”
“Thank you, Loriella.” Eina bowed her head. “I hope to make you all proud.”
With that, she marched off onto the darkening grounds. Leo watched her go, seemingly at a loss of what to do. Viktor gave him a sharp nudge with his elbow and the vampire prince snapped to attention, hurrying after the mermaid.
Eina walked until they’d put at least a good quarter mile between them and the shoreline. The sparse forest had opened up into a grassy meadow. Moonlight from the inky black sky lit the field with a pleasant, romantic glow. The soft blades of grass reached nearly to her knees. She trudged through the meadow until they’d crested a small hill and she finally had the nerve to turn and face him.
“I’m not sure what your problem is, but this has got to stop.” Her face scrunched up into a grimace and she pointed a finger in his direction. “You’re not allowed to confuse me like this.”
Leo held up his hands and took a small step backwards. “Eina, I’m not trying to confuse you. I don’t think...”
“No.” She slashed her finger through the air. “You’ll get a turn to speak in a minute. First, I need to get this off my chest.”
He clamped his mouth shut and stared at her with a tiny bit of fear and humor dancing in his eyes.
Eina inhaled sharply, suddenly aware that she had the floor. All the points she’d been running over in her head were fast evaporating. She’d had a whole lecture laid out for him. A powerful one that would’ve left the prince of vampires a quivering, fearful mess.
But as she gazed into his amber eyes lit by the moonlight, all those things seemed unimportant. What was important was this man, standing right in front of her, and the tug of her heart telling her to confess her feelings now or forever live in regret.
“I’m not saying I deserve anything after the stunts I’ve pulled,” she started slowly, turning away from his intense gaze to pace back and forth through the grass, “but something happened between us. I’m not sure if it was when I made you help me rescue the shark or when I found you huddled beneath the wreckage of the storm, but something happened.”
He huffed and shook his head. “You didn’t force me to rescue the shark.”
“Quiet, please,” she snapped. “I’m not done.”
It was hard enough to make sense of all her thoughts without him opening his distractingly handsome mouth.
His lips pressed together in an amused grin and he made a zipping motion across his mouth.
“Thank you.” She stared at him for a long moment, her mind fuzzy. “Where was I?”
He arched his eyebrows, but didn’t make a sound.
“Oh yes.” Her thoughts returned to her and she began pacing once again. “Something happened. I fought against it, but there it was. This strange feeling I couldn’t erase from my heart. I wasn’t sure if you felt the same, but when you took me to meet with the ogres, you kissed me. And not that I have a lot of experience in that area, but it wasn’t just any kin
d of a kiss, was it?”
She glanced up at him to see his face contorted in a mixture of emotions. Sorrow and desire seemed to be at the forefront. Finally, he frowned and nodded his head in defeat.
“That’s what I thought.” She took a step closer to him. “Leo, I wanted to swim away to Atlantis to get away from all of this. To hide from what’s happened the last few days and from what happened between us. But somewhere along the way, I realized that it wasn’t the right solution. I needed to face my problems. No more shrinking in the back. No more hiding. No more silencing my own voice.”
A wolf howled in the distance and then three more answered it. Eina looked up at the moon, sure those were werewolves. There would’ve been a time not too long ago when she would’ve shivered in fright. But after what she’d learned in her time on Monstrana, she was no longer afraid. This was her new home. She felt safe.