“I make demands,” he said in an honest tone. “I believe you accept them in good faith, but then you go and chase after your friend Michael in the woods and end up broken and battered when you’d agreed to stay inside your cottage. You take a stand against fifty demons and try to kill a fire wraith, when I’ve explicitly told you to stay in the village.”
She opened her mouth, likely to defend her actions, but he silenced her with a look.
“You take the oath of a demon slayer,” he continued on, “knowing full well it’ll send me over the edge.”
Her expression turned remorseful.
“And you accept my marriage proposal because you think it’ll provide leverage in keeping the villagers safe.”
“No,” she quickly interjected. “I wanted to accept that proposal from the beginning. Not because of anyone else or any leverage I might gain. I wanted to marry you. There are no ulterior motives there. I just… I needed validation that it would work.”
She shook her head, as if that answer didn’t fully encompass what she wanted to say. “I know I shouldn’t have to feel the need to give anyone a reason for my choices. But we were secretive, for the most part, and that was a wrong approach from the start. I shouldn’t have hidden my feelings for you from my friends, regardless of whether they approved. I should have been upfront, and it was a mistake for me to spring the engagement on everyone. Including you.”
Jade lifted her hands as though in surrender. “I know I appear impulsive and re
ckless. But I do think about my actions.”
Darien didn’t say a word.
She said, “The trouble I continually encounter is that what I do is driven by demon encounters. I had to try to protect Michael when he left my cottage in a fit of rage. I had to divert the fire wraith from burning my house to the ground the first time he injured me. I had to take Walker’s place because there was no one else to do it—and I possess the skills. And I had to follow Tanner to the border in an effort to stall the demons long enough for your scouts to reach you and for you to return with an army.”
Her hands moved to her hips and she raised her chin a notch as she stared up at him. “Yes, I am constantly in dangerous situations. But that could change for me—and all humans—if we work together, as you’d asked me to do.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. His gut clenched.
Of course, he did not want a partner who lived in fear and cowered in a corner. He wanted a woman who was strong and determined. He wanted Jade. Everything about her appealed to him, even if she did repeatedly create internal strife for him. He wouldn’t get so worked up if he didn’t have such powerful feelings for her. But could two strong wills unite?
He said, “There’s one thing I haven’t shared with you yet. It can change everything about us from this moment on. In a positive way.”
She gazed at him, intrigue in her eyes. “What is it?”
Unraveling the satin ribbon on the necklace, he wrapped it around her throat and tied the ends, since the clasp was broken. If Jade chose to keep the pendant, he’d have the jeweler who’d crafted her ring fix the fastening.
“The Star of Nadia,” he told her, “is a mystical piece. It was blessed by a demon princess. The immortal man who gives it to a mortal woman can grant her an eternity with him. The gift hasn’t been evoked in centuries. The necklace has been in my possession since I was a child.”
Her expression turned quizzical. She asked, “Are you telling me you have the ability to make me immortal?”
He nodded. “If I ask you, all you have to do is say yes.”
Jade stepped away. His heart sank.
“An eternity,” she whispered, a hint of awe in her voice but also a tinge of regret. “I told you humans can’t comprehend that extensive amount of time.”
“And you would carry around your painful memories with you,” he warned her, in the interest of full disclosure.
Her lips twisted and her brow furrow. Then she shook her head and said, “Not exactly.”
This perplexed Darien. “What do you mean?”
She said, “I took Sheena to the spot where my parents were murdered by demons. I told her what happened and how ashamed I was I didn’t do anything to save them.”
“Jade,” he stared at her, aghast. “You were eleven years old. What could you have possibly done?”
“Led the wolves away so my parents could have escaped.”
He gripped her by the shoulders. “They wouldn’t have escaped. Your father would have followed after them. They would have killed him regardless. And you.”
“That’s basically what Sheena said. And I know it’s true. But you can’t tell me that every time I ended up in battle with the fire wraith that you didn’t hate yourself for not doing something to keep me from getting hurt.”