“It has everything to do with that,” he snarled, abruptly dropping her hands and pacing away, full of restless anger. “You knew I didn’t want to use the arcanium, to do those things to you, exactly for fear of—”
“Yes, I know!” she shouted at him, startling him enough that he paused mid-step, head whipping around in shock. “Now will youlistento me instead of telling me how I feel and what my motivations are?”
Dark irritation clouded his face, but he inclined his chin. “By all means. I look forward to this explanation.”
Setting her teeth and refusing to be intimidated by his supercilious attitude, she paced up to him. “First of all,” she repeated herself pointedly. “I do know my limits, and I’m not an idiot familiar as Asa, in his wizardly arrogance, assumes. It was easier with him to take the humble approach and ask him not to bring it up with you than attempt to argue with him. I’m a grown woman with exceptionally high MP scores, well-educated, with excellently honed skills. I know what I’m doing. I’m askingyouto trust in me. I’m not done,” she said when he opened his mouth, and he closed it again, firmly pressing his lips together in a stern line.
“Second,” she continued, “I suspected it would take galvanizing power to reignite the arcanium like that, and I was willing to do what it takes because that would make everything easier for both of us. A plan that worked, I might add. Third, I didn’t tell you because I knew you would worry and that it wouldn’t be productive for either of us.Fourth,” she inserted forcefully when he looked like he wanted to argue, “yes, of course I knew you didn’t want to use the arcanium, to do those ‘things’withme—which I also know you enjoyed just as much as I did—so the last thing I was going to do was tell you anything that would give you an excuse not to do it again.” She finished nearly out of breath, the close-fitting bodice tight against her breasts until the Ophiel gown adjusted to accommodate.
Gabriel’s gaze flicked down at her excitedly heaving bosom, then up to her face again. He raised one brow sardonically. “Are you done now?”
“I believe so,” she replied as coolly as she could, drawing on her best Lady Veronica Elal poise. “Though I reserve the right to add additional counterarguments as they occur to me.”
With a sigh, he shook his head. “Of course you do.” Then he pinned her with his wizard-black eyes, hard and determined. “Mycounterargument is singular: all of those fine rationalizations come down to one crystal-clear truth. You don’t trust me. Not to be given salient information, not to make up my own mind once I have it, and not to use my concern for you in productive ways.”
She tried to pick apart his argument. Couldn’t. “You have a fair point,” she admitted on a sigh.
Gabriel raised both brows. “Did I just win this argument?”
“It’s not a competition,” she retorted in an arch tone, “but I will take your suggested modifications to my behavior under advisement.”
He caught her around the waist before she could step away. Holding her close, he stared into her face, his expression fierce. “Is that Lady Elal speak that you’ll try to trust me—or that you’ll pretend to?”
She didn’t mean to hesitate, but she didn’t want to lie either. “It’s not easy for me, Gabriel,” she confessed on a near whisper. “I come from a world where trusting other people is not a good idea.”
“I understand why that’s so.” But his hands on her only tightened. “What can I do to help?”
“You’re doing it.” Indeed, in the face of his determined onslaught of her defenses, of her heart, she had little ability to withhold anything that he asked for. “Let me try this. I’ll behave as if I trust you, and maybe I’ll get used to it. After all, what difference is there between appearing to be a thing and becoming it?”
He laughed softly, but at least without that humorless, bitter edge. “I’ll take it.” Lowering his mouth to hers, he caressed her lips with his, sweet and tantalizing, a promise of more. The yearning flaring in her, she clung to him, savoring his flavor and his cooling, silvery magic, no longer sharp and steaming, but coiling around her in an affectionate embrace.
Withdrawing from the kiss as slowly as he’d eased in, he leaned his forehead against hers. “This was never easy, between us,” he observed quietly, “but it was easier before other people arrived.”
“You could always go into a rage and throw them out,” she teased.
“Don’t tempt me.”
“If you don’t like Asa, you don’t have to keep him.” She pulled back enough to study his expression. “There will be others.”
“Perversely, I actually do like him.”
“So long as he keeps his hands off of me?”
“I suppose it’s not practical,” he mused as his hands explored her curves, “but I would prefer if you were only mine.”
“In point of fact, I am,” she reminded him.
He froze. “I didn’t mean—”
“It’s all right.” She framed his face in her hands. “There are reasons for these customs you so despise. I won’t say anything about the nature of wizards, but be aware that the magic that runs through you isn’t entirely yours. It has wants of its own. Fighting that could tear you apart.”