The King didn’t respond immediately to the sharp scrutiny in the question. Instead, he looked directly at her at last and reached to touch two fingers to her chin, making her turn her eyes directly up to his. She looked into the smoke and jade swirls of emotion as he studied her for a long, silent moment. Corrine somehow managed to remain still and relaxed under that unnervingly penetrating gaze. She had no idea what he was looking for, nor how he was searching for it, but she suspected it was important that he find it before answering.
“You let me lead myself quite neatly into your little trap, did you not?” he accused softly, but without any real malice.
Corrine didn’t pretend at ignorance.
“Noah, you’re their King and you’re unmated. If you won’t come to me when you so clearly long to, so clearly need to, why would any of your subjects do otherwise?”
“Have I been that obvious?” he asked, his tone tight with his tortured feelings on the topic, his hand reflexively tightening around her jaw.
“I would have to say…only since your Warrior Captain married the Lycanthrope Queen. He was the last highly positioned bachelor you kept close to you. First Jacob; then Gideon and your sister; and then when Elijah fell in love with Siena, it wasn’t long before you started grumping around the castle.”
“Damn it,” Noah cursed softly, releasing his hold on her roughly. He paced away from her, running an agitated hand through his hair.
Corrine was abruptly aware of her husband’s telepathic presence flaring to alertness in her thoughts. He was protesting the way Noah was treating her, but she pushed him firmly away, scolding him to mind his own business, that her discussion with Noah was a private one. Kane backed off with impressive immediacy, respecting her desire to respect his King.
“You have to understand,” Noah said at last as he stared out of a nearby window, “it has been a very long time since the Imprinting has become an issue any of us have had to give any true thought to. For centuries it has been as rare as…as…”
“A snowball in hell?” she offered.
This time Noah wasn’t inclined to laugh or let himself be eased by her humor. His fingers curled into a fist that he pressed against the window frame. “Hell.” He laughed mirthlessly. “The human concept of hell has always amused me, especially considering the fact that ‘demons’ are reputed to be its main occupants. I am forced to admit that there is some truth to that imagery today, Corrine. I fall asleep every day at sunrise, but I get no rest. This is because I visit my own personal hell, where agonizing beauty, pleasure, and a gluttony of satisfying emotions lie always just out of sight and reach. I dream of her. Every time I close my eyes, I dream of this woman you are meant to find for me. I have dreamed of her every single day for six months straight.”
Corrine winced visibly as he imparted this information with such clear pain. She’d had no idea that it had come to this awful form of torture. To suffer the elusive dream of your perfect mate for half a year must indeed be akin to hell for a species who felt as deeply and powerfully as Noah’s did.
“Why wouldn’t you come to me sooner?” she finally asked him, knowing beyond any shadow of doubt that this was what had finally brought him there.
“Because I am a King, little Druid. You come from a culture where that no longer means as much as it does to us, but surely you have gotten a better idea of it as you have lived with Kane.”
“I have. Enough to know that not one Demon under your rule expects you to remain single and alone for the sake of your reign.” Corrine braced her feet apart and settled her hands on her hips. “In fact, every Demon I know would scoff at that notion. Don’t blame this on your people, Noah. I may not be an expert on your society, but I do know that nothing would please them more than to see you give your heart into the hands of your Imprinted mate. So let’s skip the bullshit and come to the real point of why you’ve lain in bed, day after endless day, torturing yourself rather than coming and asking me for help.”
“Damn you, woman,” he barked, banging the window frame so hard with his fist that the glass rattled. “Has your husband taught you nothing of how you should speak to someone in my position?”
“Oh, kiss my ass,” Corrine blustered as her famous familial temper got the better of her. “If you’re just going to spout the cloud cover of protocol and all that high-handed crap, then I would prefer you not waste my time!” She stepped closer to him, in spite of the fact that his temper had caused the air around him to heat up considerably. “If you were any kind of a monarch you would jump at the chance to set a good example for your suffering people. And they are suffering, Noah. The longer they remain unmated, the more likely it is they will cave to their instincts and find themselves breaking laws and putting innocents in danger. You’re a remarkable leader and scholar. Where is your intelligence when it comes to this? Kane tells me you’ve hunted for centuries to find the cure for the suffering that overcomes your people on the Hallowed nights. Well, it’s here, Noah,” she said vehemently, thrusting her fingers against her breastbone. “It’s inside me! Come to me. Make them come to me!”
“Corrine…”
“What? What excuse is it now?” she barked.
“No excuse,” he assured her quietly. “Just confession. Confession of the one truth behind all of the questions you ask with such righteous merit.”
“Which is?” she prompted.
“Fear,” he responded with a sigh. “Pure and simple fear.”
“Fear?” Corrine gaped at him for a beat. “What in God’s name could you possibly fear from the Imprinting? Noah, are you blind? Haven’t you seen the scope of the new love surrounding you these past three years?”
“Yes, yes,” he said with impatience as he turned to look at her at last. “I have eyes and sense. I see you all, revolving around me like little planets, deep in your own little worlds made up in the space between your locked gazes and impassioned bodies. I watch until I am black-sighted with jealousy, Corrine!”
“Noah, please…forgive me,” she begged earnestly, her pretty brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand. I truly want to understand, but I don’t. What is it you fear? Why be jealous when I can give you our joy for yourself? You are so brilliant, but I see no logic here!”
“I am afraid…” He hesitated, the phraseology unfamiliar and bitter to his taste. “I am afraid I am too late.”
“Noah…”
“She has suffered. She has been through some great pain and I was not there to spare her,” he confessed quickly. “I do not know what it was, or even if she suffers still, because her emotions are always so volatile. I am afraid of bringing her to me, of thrusting her into this existence. Being my Queen is not an easy life, Corrine. She will be in danger—especially in light of recent events. She will become a target. Yes, she will be accepted by most, but those who do not accept can be brutal with their opinions, as you no doubt know from your sister’s experiences. I ask you, how can I, in good conscience, bring an already tortured soul into my world for my own selfish needs, knowing all of this?”
“Noah,” Corrine said with soft surprise. “Noah, you will bring her here so you can love her. There is no hardship in the world that can’t be made better with the type of love the Imprinting can bring! You said yourself, you don’t know if she is still suffering. Would you leave her there, will you let it continue, knowing you can stop it?”