She blurted her suspicion without thinking, “Did you seduce me to make me give up the prize? Was all of this just a ploy?”
She gestured with her hands to the lake and the bank they stood upon, far too many feet of distance between them, facing each other like strangers.
His citrine eyes flashed with acute pain, and she was immediately sorry she’d accused him of such a thing.
But the emotion was gone so quickly she wondered if she imagined it. His face was unreadable once more.
“I could say the same of you,” he said in that low, deep voice, layered with something heavy.
Exhaustion, perhaps. Or disappointment.
But Rui knew it wasn’t either of those, because she felt the same stab in her own chest.
It was heartache.
“I am not asking you to give up anything,” she reminded him. “I am planning to win the prize from you fair and square.”
“And if I win instead?”
She frowned. She hadn’t thought through all the eventualities.
“Then I would ask you to give it to me when you’re done. I need it.”
“Why do you need it?” he asked, his eyes intent upon her.
She looked away, toward the lake.
“I’m not supposed to tell you. You wouldn’t understand,” she whispered.
Desperately, she wished he wouldn’t keep pressing the issue.
Her prayers were not answered.
“Try me.”
Rui gnawed on her lower lip as she thought through her options. She didn’t want to deceive Wolfe. She trusted him. Perhaps she was too much of a coward to tell himeverything, especially what she really was, but she wanted to tell him enough. She wanted him to understand.
She looked back at him and held his glittering gaze full on.
“My friends and I are not from here,” she began.
“I gathered.”
“Back home, we are what you might describe as protectors of the realm. In a way like you.”
“I am no protector.”
“But you fight monsters and human invaders,” she pointed out.
“For a fee.”
Why did he insist on making himself a mercenary? Wolfe was more than that. So much more! Hewasa protector. Why couldn’t he see it? Rui saw it the first time she encountered him, clear as day.
But now was not the time to delve into that argument. So, she refocused on the tournament.
“We need the Eye to help us. It has important powers. If we don’t bring it back, bad things will happen.”
“What kind of powers?” he asked. “What manner of things?”