Part 12 (1/2)

”As I recall, it's my ring, is it not?”

A deep blush stained his caramel skin as she slid the ring back onto his pinkie to cover the lighter skin tone that said he never removed it from his hand.

”Why did you take it?” he groused.

”Again, it was mine.”

His eyes brittle, he clenched his fist around her ring. ”That you hurled in my face.”

He was right. She'd wanted him to choke on it that day in the locker room. ”I was a little distraught at the time.” She lifted his left hand to twist the ring on his finger. ”Intriguing engraving you added inside the band. Should I ask why you felt so compelled?”

Anguish swam in his eyes. ”What do you want me to say, Stormy? Please, for the love of the G.o.ds, give me the words that will make you forgive me for making the worst mistake of my life.”

Grief and pain choked her as she let her touch linger on his rough callouses callouses that told her just how hard and harsh a warrior's life he'd led over the years. ”No words,” she whispered as she brushed her fingers over the intricate Batur tattoo that ran the entire length of his arm. ”What made you do this?”

”I told you I would.”

”A promise a boy made to a young girl... long ago, in the heat of pa.s.sion.” She shook her head. ”This makes no sense to me.”

He reached for her hand and slid it over his heart to hold it there. ”There was only ever you for me, Galene.”

”Then why did you tell me you loved Omira?”

”I never did. You accused me of it. But I had never touched her until after you broke off our pledge. Never even really noticed her in our cla.s.s while we were in school. It was a lie told that you believed.”

”Then why not tell me the truth?”

Pain racked him as he grappled with a past that left a bitter lump in his throat and a burning hole inside his heart. ”Because you would have cried and begged me to stay with you. And I would have killed my brother to have you as my wife. I thought that if I was gone and you hated me for it that you'd marry Merrell and have a good life. That was all I ever wanted for you.”

A tear slid down her cheek. ”I hate you, Fain Hauk.”

”And I love you, Galene Batur. Instead of engraving 'Forever Galene's' inside your ring, I should have put 'Galene's b.i.t.c.h' there instead. That's what I really am.”

A tear slid down her cheek. ”You're such a b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss to her palm, just like he'd done when they were kids. ”Worthless from my first breath to my last.”

More tears followed as she saw the scars he bore. His body was a roadmap of the horrors he'd been through. Jayne was right. Nothing had ever been easy for Fain. ”Why did you marry Omira if you loved me?”

”Given our last encounter in the locker room, I knew you were done with me. That you would never take me back. And you know my mother. Once our pledge was broken, my parents threw me out. I'd embarra.s.sed them publicly. And after Chrisen and Merrell spread their lies, no Andarion female would have me. Not that I wanted one of them. But Merrell wanted you, bad enough to kill Dancer and Keris for it. That was what he told me he would do if I didn't leave you to him. I knew if I stayed on Andaria, I'd crawl back to you and bury my brothers, regardless of the guilt that would have killed me over it. While Omira wasn't my first choice, she was kind to me... at least, in the beginning. All I really was to her was an escape from the father she hated. Once the new wore off and she realized the nightmare of having an alien husband, she couldn't stand me either.”

”Yet you stayed?”

”We were married. I'd made an oath to her. Better or worse. I just didn't realize what all worse entailed. And a part of me believed I deserved every scar she carved on me for hurting you the way I did.”

Galene brushed her hand through his dark and bleached braids, straightening them over his chest. ”I want to claw out your eyes and stab you until you're dead at my feet.”

He turned his head away.

She caught his chin and forced him to look at her. ”I have always loved you, Fain Hauk. From the first moment I met you and you offered me a drink of your malt. You were the only thing in this life that I've ever wanted. Why did you never once come find me?”

He tightened his hand on hers. ”Oh, Stormy, you have no idea how many times I wanted to. But by the time I was free again, so many years had gone by that I didn't dare. I figured you were married, with kids. And I knew the sight of you with someone else would destroy me. So I stayed as far away from you as I could. But you were always in my heart. Always.”

She would deny it, but the ink on his arm bore out his words with a bold, tangible honesty.

And so did the tormented sincerity in his eyes.

Galene trailed her hand over his tattooed shoulder and watched as chills sprang up on his skin in the wake of her touch. Her Hauk had always been the most beautiful of all males. Even now, he was everything to her.

”Where do we go from here, Fain?”

”I don't know. The last thing I want to do is hurt you any more. Or, G.o.ds forbid, worse.”

Before she could stop herself, she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to his lips.

Fain closed his eyes as he savored the feel and taste of his precious Galene. Sucking his breath in sharply, he buried his hand in her braids and held her close. He lost himself to the taste of her, to the sweetness of her breath mixed with his. ”Stay with me, Stormy. In all the darkness of my life, you are the only light I've ever known.”

She broke off their kiss with a sob. ”I don't know if I can. I want to forgive you. I do. But it's not that easy. You didn't just break my heart, Fain. You shattered it. I've never been able to trust any male near me after what you did. None... only Talyn.”

Fain swallowed against the bitter lump that choked him. How he hated the pain he heard in her voice. Most of all, he hated himself for having caused it. ”Will you give me one more chance? Please. I swear to you that I'll never abuse it. And you won't regret it.”

Galene bit her lip as she heard the last words she'd ever expected him to utter. She wanted to slap him and walk away. To be as cold to him as he'd been to her that day she'd gone to tell him she was pregnant.

But what she saw was the wounded boy she'd loved more than her life. The one who used to swing her up in his arms and make her feel so warm and protected. So treasured. The one she'd thought to live the rest of her life with.

Now...

”You're the most aggravating male ever born.”

”Completely unlovable.”

She fought hard to suppress her smile at his adorable grin. ”Yes, you are.” She flicked her nails at him. ”So why do I still care for you?”

”Told you. I'm irresistibly fluffy.”

More charmed than she wanted to be, she rolled her eyes at him. ”I think I must be the one with a head injury.”

He quirked that adorable grin at her. ”C'mon, Stormy. Let me court you. If I f.u.c.k up again, you can have Talyn kick my a.s.s.”

”You know he will. He did break every single record you ever set in the Ring.”

He visibly cringed. ”The joy in your voice as you say that stings me deep.”

”Good.”

Fain brushed her knuckles against his fangs. ”One chance? Please?”

Against her better judgment, she nodded. ”But be warned, War Hauk. If you break trust with me this time, I will end you. Painfully, and with relish.” She jerked her chin toward the part of his body that was bulging under the thin blanket. ”And that stays in your pants until such a time as I say so. You hear me?”

He whimpered at her cruelty. ”You're a vicious mia. But fine. I accept your terms.”