Even if she ran from her fiancé’s arms now, there was nothing. He could do nothing. Give her nothing. Nothing but the shell of a man, a shadow of who he’d once been.
For a brief time, she’d brought something more back into his life. She gave him light again, in that way only she could. But he would steal it all someday, if he let her keep giving.
He would leave her as dry as he was now.
The dancing couple turned and he caught Eva’s eyes, saw a weight, a haunting sadness in the dark depths he’d never seen before. He saw how much this marriage would cost her and it made his stomach burn.
He released his hold on the pillar and felt sharp pain he hadn’t been aware of. He looked at his palm, blood dripping from there down his wrist. There were thorns on the bronze vine. He hadn’t even realized.
Physical pain was nothing in the face of the pain in his chest. It was almost welcome, because it helped dull the edge. He brushed his hand down his pant leg, not caring if he left a stain. This entire night would leave a stain inside him. Forever. Why not have a bit of external proof?
He walked out of the ballroom and into the corridor, his heart raging. His tie suddenly felt too tight, as if it was choking him. He tugged on the knot and cast it onto the floor, walking toward the front entrance.
The front of the palace was lit up by hundreds of lights strung overhead. There were staff cars parked along the front, and even a horse-drawn carriage, as if it was a ball from a bloody fairy tale.
He stalked down the drive. He would have to come back. He was still working for the king. But he couldn’t stay now. He couldn’t bear to watch Eva with another man. With the man who would be bound to her for all of his life. The man who didn’t know what a gift that was.
“Mak!”
He turned and saw Eva running to him, her skirt balled up in her fists, tugged up past her knees, showing delicate, glittery shoes that glinted in the lights.
“Mak, please stop!”
He did and so did she, a few feet in front of him, her breasts rising and falling in time with her breathing, her heavy eye makeup smeared down her cheeks.
“You left your tie,” she said, her breathing heavy.
He noticed that she had the tie wadded up in the same hand that was gripping her skirt. “I have other black ties.”
“I know.”
He started to turn from her. “I’ll be back, Eva, I’m just leaving for a while.”
“Give me a reason, Mak,” she said, her voice breaking. “Give me just one. I’ll go and tell him it’s off. I’ll announce it to the whole damn country myself.” She raised her hand to wipe a tear from her cheek, her fingers trembling.
He shook his head. “Don’t. Don’t do it for me, Eva.”
“What other reason do I have?”
He closed the distance between them, taking a chance, a big chance, by touching her arm. “You’re worth more than that. Do it because you deserve happiness. Because you deserve to live for more than this outdated idea of what honor is. You are more than a possession, you’ve said it to me many times, so show your father it’s true. Those are good reasons, real reasons, to call it off. But don’t do it for me. I’m not worth it.”
“Yes you are,” she said, her voice thick.
Pain burst through him. “No. I have nothing to give you. Nothing.”
Eva looked at Mak, desperation gnawing at her. How could he see nothing in himself when she looked at him and saw her whole world.
“I don’t care,” she said, the words bursting from her. She didn’t care about her pride, not in that moment. “Let me take care of you. Let me give to you. Take from me. Take it all, I don’t care.”
He advanced on her and wrapped his hand around her wrist, tugging her up against him. He dropped his head and kissed her lips, fiercely, intimately. Like a man who knew every inch of his lover. A man who was desperate. Desperate for her.
He pulled away from her abruptly, taking a step back. “No, Eva. Don’t ask me to do that. Don’t tempt me. My honor has its limits. I know the cost of those kinds of relationships. I had no choice in mine. The only sins committed belonged to me. You have no obligation to me. Don’t sign yourself up for a life of me taking from you, because damn it, Eva, I’m tempted to take you up on it.”