Page 58 of A Vow to Set the Virgin Free

“You are a little she demon.”

“Maybe so.” She bit happily into her sandwich, because she could take joy in the fact only she could have provoked him like this. She was certain. She was satisfied that she had gotten a reaction out of him. One that had simply been anger. “But I am right about you. You left the castle so that you could do something. So you should do it.”

“And what is it that I want to do?”

“I don’t know. But you told me an awful lot about the tragedy of Irina dying so young. You told me a lot about the tragedy of your upbringing. You have billions of dollars. Perhaps there is something in that. Perhaps there is something that you’re supposed to do. You do have another life. Another chance. And you have the perspective of a man who has lived... All of your lives. What is it that you think needs to change? What is it that you think you need to bring to the world?”

“And what is it that you need to bring to the world, Athena? Are we now going to compete in philanthropy?”

“Maybe I’m a missing person,” she said. “Maybe that’s what I need to do. Maybe I need to help find people who are missing. Like me. People who are being locked away, hidden away. Maybe I need to help fix that. So that women like me can’t be sold into marriage. So that women like Rose, my dear friend Rose, can’t be sold to pay off debts. I will take the money you give me, and that is what I will do.”

“I will match it. You don’t need to spend all of your money.”

“And what need do you see?”

“No child should sleep on the streets,” he said.

“Good.”

“It is that experience that creates monsters like me. Perhaps I can at the very least stop more of them from being made.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re out. Maybe that’s why you’re here.”

“You are difficult,” he said.

“I never said I wasn’t. Or rather, I suppose I’m just discovering that. Which is a bit exciting. Because I spent so much of my life being forced into being biddable. And I have never really thought I was. I have always thought that there might be more to me than that.”

He looked at her, and she could not figure out exactly what the expression meant.

“A productive day. Your first time at a restaurant, and a glancing bit of insight into what you’re meant to be.”

“I think you’re mocking me, Cameron.”

“I would never mock you, little goddess.”

“I don’t believe that. I believe that you’re mocking me because you find my sincerity uncomfortable.”

“You know what’s uncomfortable. Having eighteen inches of metal stuck in your leg. And no, that isn’t the euphemism.”

“I wouldn’t have thought it was,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“Did you enjoy your meal?”

“I did. Perhaps we can take a walk?”

She smiled at him. And had the feeling that in his world that smile was waging a war. But that was just fine by her. She was the goddess of it, after all. And he insisted upon calling her a little goddess. So she would not let it go. She would not release hold.

She would instead be the conqueror that he had named her.

Even if it began with a walk.

“Looking for romance, Athena?”

The way his accent curled over her name made her stomach tighten.

“You were quite clear on your opinions regarding that subject.”

They paid at the café, and then walked outside. It was a warm evening, couples were strolling down the well-lit sidewalk, holding on to each other, gazing at each other lovingly.

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