Being a cross between the two races did, as he’d pointed out, clarify a lot of convoluted notions she’d had since her childhood. Perhaps it also fed into her isolation. For someone who’d been viewed as a potential leader all along, she’d kept a wall around her.
Mentally exhausted and perplexed, she flopped down onto the mattress and stared up at the cracked ceiling. “Why is it that every time I’m with you, something completely insane happens?”
Darien’s tone was a consoling one. “I don’t mean to make life more difficult for you, Jade. But you have to admit, there really is so much more to you than an orphaned girl trying to survive from day to day.”
She sighed. “I just can’t fathom how something like this could come about.”
“It’s elementary,” he said. “Were you and I to have children, they would be demi-demons. Although, because of my lineage, our children would have my dominant traits. Your demon blood is obviously not as strong as mine, since you’re mortal.”
“Are you saying our kids would be immortal?”
“Yes.”
Her head rolled on the pillow and she gazed at him. She recalled the incident in her bathroom following the chicken slaying and said, “You didn’t seem the slightest bit upset or reticent when you asked if I was pregnant. But you had to be bothered by the notion, right?”
He settled beside her and his hand cupped her face. His thumb swept over her cheek. “Why would that bother me? I told you I love you and that I want to marry you. I didn’t make the proposal lightly, nor did I fail to take into consideration all it would entail. True, your comment about where a bird and a fish would live together took me off guard, though I suppose it shouldn’t have.” He gave her an earnest look. “I know you don’t feel safe in the castle, surrounded by demons.”
She searched his eyes as she asked, “Is that one of the reasons you told me about my skewed genetics? Do you think being a partial demon will make me more comfortable in the presence of other demons?”
“Would you consider how easily you and Sheena bonded? How strong the friendship was between Morgan and Liam—and that Morgan has concern for your welfare because of that relationship? How even Jocelyn sensed there was more to you than human flesh and blood?” He gave her a moment to process this, then added, “I knew you were different, but I couldn’t get past your suffering to pinpoint what set you apart from other humans I’ve met.”
Jade’s mind reeled, but more absolute truths infiltrated her jumbled thoughts. “Now that you mention it,” she said, “I once told Lisette the demons I’d crossed paths with from time to time all seemed to watch me curiously. Not warily. But it seemed as though something about me perplexed them.”
Darien nodded. “Your heritage isn’t common. There are very few like you, which leads me to believe the demon seduction way back when with your ancestor was by mutual consent.”
With a snort, she said, “Thank God they didn’t pass down horns from generation to generation.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “You have a timely sense of humor.”
Despite the levity she tried to infuse into the discussion and the reality she faced, her brain still churned with the “how did this happen and what does it really mean?” concepts. Yet it was all too much to process at the moment, so she didn’t give in to the dark side of the situation Darien had brought to light.
“What else I am I going to do,” she remarked, “if not crack a joke? I’m part demon. It’s not every day a girl receives that sort of news.”
“I can bring you the book I tore that page from, if you’d like. There’s a chapter on your kind. It might be enlightening.”
She eyed him closely. “You haven’t read it?”
“No, not all of it. Just enough to grasp the meaning of your mark. I didn’t want to discover something I might be able to hold over your head to get you to marry me.”
A laugh fell from her lips, unexpectedly. “Still riding that train, I see.”
He gave her an honest and raw look that set her nerve endings on fire and also made her pulse pick up a few extra beats.
“I know what I want,” he said, his voice confident and strong. “And when I make up my mind, it doesn’t change.”
As much as his unwavering commitment to her warmed her heart, she had to say, “Telling me I’m not one hundred percent human doesn’t pave the way for a formal union between us, Darien. And I do need to be careful when we’re together, because having a child when we’re not married would only create more tension in the village. And between us.”
In her mind, it went without saying where each of them would want their child to reside and be raised—Darien would demand it be the castle and she would insist it be the cottage. What an explosive situation that would become!
Resisting the urge to groan, she said, “Perhaps we should change the
subject. You’ve already blown me out of the water with your little discovery and I’m not sure I can take any more hits.”
“Fine,” he conceded as he pulled her to him and she rested her head on his chest. “But I do think we should address the village tomorrow regarding your new post. It might be something they find comforting.”
She agreed, yet asked, “What about the impending threat of a rogue demon army heading this way?”
“I don’t believe it’s necessary to alarm anyone just yet. I want to know more of their mission and whereabouts before I raise any hackles. Can you understand that?”