Page 20 of Galadon
He dipped his chin. “It’s for the best.”
Rayna put her hands on her hips. “Just to be clear. It won’t bother you in the least if I find a fellow slayer, have passionate sex with him, and go on to have little slayer babies?”
Galadon stiffened, rage and jealousy entering his eyes. “I’d rather you didn’t go that far, but it’s your life, and your choice. My opinion shouldn’t factor into it.”
Ugh, she could see she’d gotten to him on that one, but he still resisted.
“This also means no saving me anymore.” She pointed a finger at him. “If you foresee my death, let it happen. Stop confusing me by acting like you care with your warnings, rushing to protect me, and having your mother heal me. Just let me die and be done with it because we both know that’ll be my fate sooner or later, like every other slayer. Is that clear?”
He looked away and worked the strong jaw she ached to trace. “Very well.”
Silence filled the room. Rayna had made every point she’d planned, hopeful that at least one might break through his big, thick skull. She’d failed. He might care for her on some level, but he’d never surrender to his attraction again. She couldn’t win this battle, no matter what that sorceress had foretold about their relationship.
“So that’s it?” she asked, fingers clenching on the back of a chair. “I leave now, and we never see each other again?”
Galadon finally met her gaze, regret in his fire-banked eyes. “It is for the best.”
Rayna’s throat tightened. “Fine.”
She turned and walked toward the tunnel entrance. It had been the hardest thing she’d ever done, putting all her feelings out there for someone who was technically her enemy. To have him reject her was too much, and her eyes watered. The kind of relationship they could have had would have been earth-shattering if he’d given it a chance.
“Goodbye, Galadon,” she said with her back to him, tears running down her face. “I wish you all the best.”
“Rayna.”
She froze at the strain in his voice.
He cleared his throat. “You’re beautiful, fierce, and have a good heart. If you were anything except a slayer, I wouldn’t have hesitated to make you mine.”
The words weren’t the comfort he likely meant them to be.
“The one thing I can’t change, right?” she whispered.
“Right.”
She rushed out of the tunnel like her life depended on it. The whole conversation had been a waste of her time. Sure, she’d gotten everything off her chest she’d wanted to say over these past months, but it made no difference. He didn’t see her the way she saw him. Galadon was so busy protecting himself from getting hurt that he was hardly living at all.
Full darkness waited for her outside. The tears were coming faster and freer now, and she gulped in deep breaths as grief filled her. Until then, she hadn’t realized how much hope she’d held onto that she could succeed if she just opened herselfup all the way. Like, maybe, she stood a chance of not being alone anymore. It had been so exhausting for all these years, and the ache of loneliness ate at her more each day, no matter how hard she tried to shove it down.
Ujala came running to her, wrapping Rayna in her arms with her kind warmth.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, rubbing her back. “He’s too stubborn for his own good.”
How Galadon’s mother knew what this visit had been about, she didn’t know, but maybe it had been obvious. She was wise and astute after so many centuries of living.
“I don’t ever want to see him again, and I told him that,” she said.
The female shifter pulled back and looked down at her with sorrow as she gently wiped the tears from Rayna’s cheeks. “I understand why you feel that way, but I’m proud of you for being brave. Far braver than my son can understand or appreciate. Your life’s journey is not one I envy, but perhaps someday, you’ll find the happiness you deserve.”
Rayna couldn’t imagine that ever happening, but she appreciated Ujala’s compassion. “Thank you. I hope so.”
Titan waited a short distance away in his dragon form with a mournful look in his eyes. He was a good friend and didn’t want to see her hurt. She appreciated that at least one male shifter didn’t balk at her being a slayer and stood by her.
“Take care, Ujala,” Rayna said, giving her a tremulous smile.
She dipped her chin. “You do the same.”
Chapter 9
