Page 59 of Their Promise

We went silent for a bit before I finally broke it.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked. “Are you sure you want to court me? What if you find a better woman … somewhere else?”

He scoffed. “I’ve been all around the world. There are no better women. Trust me.”

“Or, like I said to Mason, you’re just groomed into thinking that.”

The car veered off the road to the shoulder, slid to a stop, and he spun to look at me. “Where is this coming from?”

Taking a deep breath, I spit it all out as quick as I could. “I think the spell that was used on me, the darkness from it,infected you three, and I’m concerned that it altered you three into being focused on me and that’s why you feel drawn to me.”

“Or,” he said and leaned across the center console to stare right in my eyes, “we’ve been obsessed with you because you were our best friend and we enjoy spending time with you.”

“Mason said you guys feel a pull to me, that it’s similar to what people feel around sirens. The spell used on me was a mixture of siren and mage magic. It could be?—”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what it could be. What matters is we care about you and want to be with you. What matters is how you feel about us. I think this negative self-talk is from the spell as well. It alters your emotions and self-deprecation is not an emotion you genuinely have.”

He could be right. It was another thing I would have to talk to Leona about.

Reaching forward, he stroked his fingers along my cheek and continued back until he cupped the back of my neck.

My body warmed and I arched my upper body towards him.

“Listen to me, Liliana Rubyserpent. You are beautiful, smart, kind, cunning, and a goddess who deserves to be worshipped. No matter what happens, no matter what path you go down, I will always have your back. I may bitch about it and growl a lot, but I will never forsake you. Even when you blocked us, I demanded Trey send an investigator to at least confirm you were doing well, I asked Dad about you constantly and made him promise not to tell you. We never gave up on our goal of coming back to take you as our mate. Did we bungle it a bit? Yes, obviously. Are there things I would change? One hundred percent. However, my goal has always been to be whatever you want me to be. You want a guard? I’ll do it. You want a friend to cry on? I’ll be here with tissues ready. I know I was terrible at showing it. I know I fucked things up by not explaining my feelings sooner. I know I hurt you. I know you’re still hurt byit, even though you haven’t said anything. I’m a rash idiot at the best of times, but I have been working every single day on becoming the best male I can be to ensure I am here to help you in any way that you might need. Not for fame, not for bettering our clan, but for you. So, stop worrying about what may or may not have caused my loyalty. Just embrace and accept it, and do what is best for you and know I will follow. Okay?”

Tears silently slipped down my face at his speech and a warmth grew in my chest that I hadn’t realized was cold. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips lightly against his before I pulled back and said, “I will domybest to earn your continued loyalty.”

He used his thumbs to wipe the tears from my face and said, “Just keep being you, Lily.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead and my eyes fluttered closed. “Just keep being you.”

We madeit to the concert without any other discussion and I felt lighter than I had in years.

After parking in the VIP section, signing about a dozen people’s tickets, and taking selfies with at least two dozen groups, we finally made it to our seats. In the front row!

“Always so popular,” he teased as we sat.

Ignoring his taunt, I bounced on my seat. “I’ve never been in the front row of one of their concerts before! I’m excited!”

“Why haven’t you? You’re a princess, pretty sure their record label would dive at a chance to say you were attending.”

“I don’t like to use my status as princess to get me things,” I explained. “I logged onto their sales page just like everyone else each time I tried to get tickets. Most of the time my luck was bad and I didn’t get a single ticket or the ones I did get were pretty far back.”

“Well, I hope this is a performance you’ll always remember,” he said.

Turning, I smiled at him. “It’s our first concert together, so I’ll definitely remember it. Plus, they can’t have a bad performance. They’re amazing.”

A man in a pair of black slacks and a white button-up shirt hurried over to us and bowed. “Your Highness, we are delighted that you are attending the concert. Due to your status, we understand it would be difficult to get drinks and snacks, so I will be here to assist with that and merchandise as well. Please let me know what you’d like and I will obtain it for you. My name is Bart. The band members have also requested the two of you have a meet and greet with them backstage.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do all of that!” I said with wide eyes.

“It will be difficult to make it through the snack lines,” Kayden said. “And I’m not going to leave you alone to go without you.”

Gnawing on my lip, I finally conceded when I realized he was right. “Okay.” I gave him my order and Kayden gave him his. Once he had the orders, he hurried off to get the items.

“Don’t pout because you’re being given special treatment,” Kayden said while laughing.

“You know I hate special treatment for being princess.”

“You only hate it because you feel like you don’t deserve it because you’re adopted, which is absolutely ridiculous. You’ve done just as much, if not more, for the hybrid clan than Tony has.”

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