“I’m taking the position of ambassador for my kingdom,” she said, fixing him with a firm glare. “It’s everything I’ve always wanted. I’ll be making a difference in the world and for my colony. But that also means I’m going to be living in the castle. Under your family’s roof.”
Her heart pattered loudly in her chest. She hadn’t planned on saying it aloud, but here she was, standing inches away from him. There was something about the way he stared at her, as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world. She had to tell him. She couldn’t be silent any longer.
“I want to be absolutely clear.” She took a small step closer until their bodies nearly touched. Looking up at him, she took a cleansing breath and willed her pulse to slow. “I’m taking this job whether you like it or not. But I want you there beside me every step of the way. Believe it or not, I’m a better person with you. I love you, Leo.”
She bit her bottom lip and awaited his response. He shifted his weight between his feet, uncertainty flashing in his eyes. Every second that ticked by was like another fishhook in her flesh.
“Eina, I...” He glanced over her shoulder, unseeing. “I can’t say those words back to you.”
His words were a punch in the gut.
She took a step back, hot tears welling in her eyes. The stubborn side of her, the side that he himself had unleashed, was demanding more from him. “If you don’t love me, I need you to say it, Leo. Aloud. Put me out of my misery once and for all.”
“I can’t say that, either.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously. “Eina, I don’t want to lie to you.”
A glimmer of hope dared to spark inside her. She reached for his hand and clasped it tightly. “Then, don’t. Tell me what you’re thinking. I think I deserve at least that much.”
He reached for her other hand and held them both. She thrilled at the feel of his fingers around hers.
“You’re an amazing woman,” he said with a sigh. “An amazing mermaid. I’ve never met anyone like you. You have passion and drive. A goal to be an agent of good in this world. There’s a fire in you. You’re a force to be reckoned with. I can’t tell you how much I admire that in you.”
A gentle breeze blew across the meadow, pushing her hair into her face. He reached out and brushed it behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek.
“So, what’s the problem?” she asked.
This all sounded pretty great to her.
His lips quirked in a smile, flashing his dimples. “Quiet, please. This is my turn to speak.”
She quickly pressed her mouth into a contrite grin and squeezed his hands for him to continue.
“The problem is me.” His eyes narrowed in pain. “I’m afraid, Eina. Afraid if I let myself have you, if I let myself say the words that you so want to hear, I’ll be the water that douses your flame. I’m over seven hundred years old and I’ve never found an ounce of the passion that you seem to naturally exude from every pore of your body. You have so much to offer the world. I’m dead weight. I refuse to distract you from your dreams.”
She sucked in a sharp breath of air. It felt almost as bad to hear him speak that way about himself as it did to think that he didn’t love her. No one spoke that way about her vampire prince. Not even him.
“Now, you listen here, you pampered prince.” Eina grasped his hands tighter and her lips pinched into a disapproving scowl. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since meeting you, it’s that our flaws don’t control us. We can let ourselves shine or we can sink into oblivion. You have to be willing to go after what you want. And I want you. You’re not a distraction. I have so many dreams and now—you’re a part of all of them.”
His lips partly slightly and his chest rose with a heavy inhale. She smiled as his hands shook in hers.
“Listen, I’m not saying you’re a changed man,” she continued with a sly smile. “You’re still the sickly charming, suave man I met in the ballroom. You’ve got a wild streak that freaks me out and a dimpled smile that makes me forget what I was about to say. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to be bored around you. You’re also deeply caring and sensitive. You make me feel safe. And most of all, you see the real me.”
It had been that unarming feeling that had first attracted her to the vampire prince. When everyone around her seemed to look right through her, he saw her and brought out the strength that had laid dormant inside her all her life.
“From what I heard on that beach,” she dropped one of his hands to point toward the dark shoreline. The lamps had been long extinguished and everything packed up. “You’re absolutely the opposite of dead weight. When you thought your brother wasn’t going to support my sisters, you fought for me.”
He grinned and his cheeks reddened. “You heard all that?”
“Every word.” She wrapped her arms around him and stepped in close. “Leo, let yourself be happy with me.”
He stared down at her for a long moment, his dark eyes glistening. His hands found her hips and he pulled her in tight. She could feel the cold, solid strength of his muscles against her stomach. Every inch of her wanted to be wrapped up in his arms at that moment.
“Eina, are you sure?”
She smiled, nodding her head. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
There was a moment of hesitation in his eyes. A glimmer of one last internal struggle. But just as soon as it had appeared, it extinguished and in its place was a smoldering amber gaze that sent shivers up and down her spine. His lips crashed down on hers and soon her head was spinning. She rose to her tip toes and worked her fingers into his blond hair. He responded in kind, entangling his hands in her hair and moaning into her mouth. They were lost like that for a long time before he gently pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.
“Eina,” he whispered in a hoarse voice. Her body trembled at the amount of feeling in that one little word. “I love you.”