Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
She kept her gaze fixed on her grandfather. She was absolutely careful to sound logical and firm.
What do you think you’re doing?
“Why have you come to this conclusion, Safia?” Amastan asked. “You were willing to try. You said you would learn what you could of his culture and of him.”
She nodded. “I certainly intended to. At first, I believed we would make a good match. I believed him to be respectful and a man who would answer my questions and consult with me before he made arbitrary decisions. I have since found that is not the case at all. My understanding of lifemates is that one makes the other happy. That happiness of their lifemate is always put above their own. I would never be happy with a man who sends spies to listen to private conversations. Or one who dictates to me. I believed we would have a partnership. That is not the case.”
She made more of an effort to keep her voice perfectly even. She didn’t want any of the men in the room to regard her as angry, although Petru knew.
Amastan rubbed the bridge of his nose thoughtfully, switching his gaze to Petru, who sat with an expressionless mask on his very masculine face. He looked as if he could have been carved from stone. His eyes had gone pure silver, a molten liquid heat that threatened retaliation.
“Is it possible there is a mistake, Petru?”
Petru looked only at Amastan, regarding him as the ultimate authority and dismissing Safia as if she were a child not capable of understanding the negotiations taking place.
“It is impossible to be wrong about one’s lifemate. There is only one. After two thousand years, I can once again see color. I must tone it down and sometimes blur the colors to be able to endure it; otherwise, the brilliance can affect my vision. Only a lifemate can restore color. I have not felt emotion in two thousand years. Nothing. Not until I heard the sound of my lifemate’s voice. Handling unfamiliar feelings is a trial I wish on no man. Only a lifemate can restore emotion.”
“Safia.” Amastan sounded compassionate, too much so. She felt the burn of tears behind her eyes.
“For all we know, Aura restored these things to him, not me. I don’t believe I’m his true lifemate because I am not in the least compatible with him. We have always had the right to refuse a marriage, Jeddi. I wish to invoke that right.”
She lifted her chin at Petru when his slashing silver eyes jumped to meet her defiant gaze.
“I will not relinquish my claim.” There was absolute resolve in his voice. “I told you I will fight to the death for you. If you have doubts, there is one more way to know for certain that you are my lifemate. I was waiting for your family to be here with you in the traditional way, but we can do so now and see what happens.”
“What is this test?” Gwafa asked.
“It is not a test. It is the ritual marriage, binding the two of us together. If Safia is not my true lifemate, the words won’t work. She holds the other half of my soul. The words will weave our soul back together, uniting us, forming an unbreakable bond. If she is not my lifemate, nothing will happen.”
“This is the marriage ceremony of your people?” Izem asked.
“Yes. Once the words are said, Safia will be my wife, but only if she is my true lifemate. If she is not, then I will remain here to aid you in the war with Lilith and then continue to search for the woman who guards the other half of my soul.”
He was so calm about it. Not just calm; utterly certain. Arrogant even. Smug. Ruthless. A merciless predator who had easily cornered his prey. Safia was terrified she’d walked right into his trap. Aura had even warned her, but she was every bit as arrogant as he was, thinking she could outmaneuver him.
COMING TOGETHER. REVELATION. BALANCE.
CHAPTER
11
Safia took a deep breath. “Honestly, Jeddi, I don’t think it’s necessary to go so far as to perform a marriage ritual. That’s sacred to me, and I assume it would be to Petru as well. It should be intimate and personal, not a test.”
Petru stood, a fluid motion that centered all attention on him. “Ku Tappa Kulyak, for me it will be intimate and personal, as anything to do with you always is. It is necessary to bind you to me. From the moment I first saw you and heard you speak, the compulsion has weighed on me. The ritual binding words are imprinted on our souls long before we are born.”
He crossed the room with slow, measured steps, footsteps that were impossible to hear. Her heart accelerated out of control. His shoulders looked far wider than she remembered. His chest was thicker and heavily muscled, waist narrow, arms pure defined muscle. It was his eyes that were frightening. They didn’t blink but remained on hers, a slashing silver that pierced right through her, seeing far too much.