In Other Worlds (10 page)

The love in her eyes scorched him. “You are the strongest man I've ever known.”

“Weakest fool, you mean.”

She shook her head and gave him a tender smile. “Come, husband. We're going to have fun even if it kills you.” She stopped at the kiosk and rented a paddleboat, then led him to it.

Reluctantly, he got inside and let her take them out to the center of the pond where he could feel the sun warming his pale skin.
Gah, I must look ghastly.
He'd lived inside so long that his skin had none of the tan it used to.

She looked up at the sky and smiled. “It's a beautiful day, isn't it?”

Adron leaned back and stared at the sky to see what about it made her so happy. The light blue was covered in soft, white clouds, and the warmth of the sun felt good on his skin. She was right, it was exquisite. “It's okay.”

She huffed at him. “You're such a pessimist.”

In spite of himself, Adron ran a hand down her bare arm that was exposed by her sleeveless tunic. He touched the faint scar on her shoulder and frowned. Most of her back and hips were covered with whip scars, and every time he saw them, he wanted the throat of whoever had hurt her. “Who beat you?”

A hint of sadness flashed on her face, but she quickly recovered as she dangled one hand in the water. “My father.”

“Why?”

She leaned forward and whispered as if imparting a great secret to him. “Brace yourself. I know you're going to have a hard time believing this, but I tend not to do what other people want me to.”

Smiling at her dire tone, he laced his fingers through her hair. “I think I like that about you.”

“So not what you said to me yesterday.”

“Yesterday I was stupid, and I'll probably be stupid again later today and tomorrow . . . and probably many more times after that.”

“Then it's a good thing I ignore you.”

He laughed at himself—something he hadn't been able to do in a really long time. Which was another reason for him to be grateful to her.

Livia watched the way Adron leaned back on his elbows as he stared at her. His white shirt was pulled taut over the muscles of his stomach and chest. His broad shoulders were thrown back, his biceps flexed with the promise of leashed strength and power while the wind teased his white-blond queue.

Goodness, he was gorgeous even with the scar on his cheek. How devastating could one man be?

And it wasn't just his looks. There was a regal air that clung to him. One that was at odds with the soldier he'd once been. She had a hard time reconciling those two parts of his past. “Tell me something . . .” She paused her pedaling. “Why was a royal heir in the League?”

He scratched his chin before he answered. “I wasn't the heir at the time I enlisted.”

The knowledge surprised her. “No?”

“No. My older sister was the heir.” The pained expression on his face was profound and went deeper than the one he wore when his body hurt him.

“You have an older sister?”

He nodded. “My father's daughter from a relationship he had long before he met my mother.”

“What happened to her?”

“She and my father fought over Thia's choice of fiancé. In a fit of anger, she stormed out of the palace and vanished. All of us have been trying to find her for years, but we've had no word of her. We don't know if she married him, died, or whatever.”

“I'm so sorry, Adron.”

He didn't speak as he glanced away, but his grief reached out to her and made her sorry that she'd asked.

Now it all made sense to her. That was the real reason he hadn't killed himself even though he didn't really want to live. His family had already lost one child, and he'd seen their grief firsthand.

Had felt it himself.

“You must miss her.”

“All the time. She used to arm-wrestle me to the ground and kick my butt every time I went into her room.”

She smiled at the teasing in his voice.

A tic started in his jaw. “She was the best confidant I had growing up. I could tell her anything and know it would never reach the ears of my parents.”

She reached out and took his hand into hers. “Tell me something, Adron. Something you've never shared with anyone else. Not even Thia.”

He stroked her fingers with his thumb and waited so long to respond that at first she thought he was refusing. Finally, he gave her a sheepish grin. “I'm the one who glued Zarina to the toilet seat when she was seven.”

Livia burst out laughing. “I was serious.”

“I am, too. I'd meant to get Jayce, but she made a mad dash for the room and ran into it before he did. Poor Taryn ended up taking the blame for it.”

“And you never confessed?”

His expression was one of absolute horror. “If you'd ever seen my father truly angry, you'd know the answer to that. I was only thirteen, and Zarina was just a tiny kid who wouldn't go to the bathroom for months after that without someone testing the seat for her.

“My father was a giant to me back then. Not to mention the fact that you never knew when his assassin's training was going to kick in and override all paternal instincts—not that it ever did, but there was always that fear back in the day that he could mentally snap and break one of us in half. Given his wrath over it, there was no way in hell I was going to confess.”

“So what happened to Taryn?”

“He was restricted from playing ball for the whole summer season.”

Livia frowned. “That doesn't seem so bad a punishment. Why were you afraid to own up to it?”

“Because I knew my father would punish me twice as severely since I not only did it, but I let someone else pay for it. My father's a firm believer in justice.” He squeezed her hand. “It was a cowardly thing, I know, and I spent the whole summer staying home with Taryn trying to make it up to him.”

“Did he know you were the one who did it?”

He shook his head. “No. Like I said, only Thia and Devyn ever kept my confidences, and even then I didn't trust them with that one. It's always been my guilty secret.”

And now it was hers, too.

It made her warm inside that he'd trusted her with it.

His grip tightened on her hand. “What about you? Who were you running from at the Golden Crona?”

Her face flamed as he brought back a memory she'd done her best to bury. “It was horrible. My father was going to marry me to Clypper Thoran.”

He gaped incredulously. “The Giradonal Governor?”

“Yes.”

Adron frowned as he stared at her. “Good Lord, he's what? A hundred and fifty?”

“Eighty-two.”

He shuddered. “Your father was going to marry you to an eighty-two-year-old man?”

She nodded, grateful that he shared the same repugnance she'd had over the event. “He wanted a trade agreement with them, and Clypper wanted a virginal wife.”

He let out a long, audible breath. “No wonder you didn't mind getting stuck with me. One way or another, you were bound to end up as some man's nursemaid.”

She lost her temper at him then. “You know, I'm tired of your self-pity. Instead of thinking of all the things you no longer have, you should concentrate on what you do have.”

“And what is that?”

“A family who loves you.
All
of them. And though your body is damaged, at least your mind isn't.”

“Yeah, well, being trapped in an invalid body happens to be my worst nightmare.”

Livia glared at him. “I would rather be crippled than mindless. My worst fear is ending up as a vegetable, trapped in a whole, sound body. So from where I'm sitting, you have nothing to complain about.”

His frown deepened. “Why would you fear something like that?”

“I saw my grandmother die that way. It was terrible. She lay comatose in a hospital bed, hooked to monitors and machines for almost a year before they finally let her die. Even though she'd told everyone that she didn't want to live with that indignity, that she wanted to be free to die. No one listened.”

“Why did they do that?”

“Because they couldn't let her go.” Her look intensified. “If your mind was gone, Adron, you couldn't be here with me now. You wouldn't be able to see the sky above us, hear the children laughing or anything else. You'd be trapped in cold, awful darkness with nothing.”

Adron flinched as his mind conjured a perfect picture of the horror she described. “Okay.” It was too gruesome even for him to contemplate. “You make a good a point.” She'd obviously given this a lot of thought. “You're right, I am a self-pitying bastard. But I'll endeavor to be a little less so.”

“Promise?”

“As long as you're with me, yes.”

“Good, because I have no intention of leaving you.”

Adron scowled at her choice of words. Not that he doubted her, it was just that fate had a way of slapping down all the best intentions, and a weird premonition went through his mind.

It was one of her dying, and that was the only thing that could still frighten him.

FIVE

Weeks went by as Adron tried to keep his word to her. Some days it was easier than others. And today it was particularly difficult.

“Come on, Adron,” his therapist said as she increased the weight on his leg. “You can lift it.”

Grinding his teeth against the pain, he hated the patronizing tone Sheena always used whenever he worked out. Like a mother coaxing a small child to eat his vegetables.

“That's it. You're doing fine. Good boy.”

“Go to hell,” he snarled.

“Adron!” Livia snapped at him as she came forward to stand beside him. “You behave.”

Adron curled his lip. This was the first time he'd allowed her to come with him to his therapy in the hospital. And if she kept that tone up, it'd be the last.

Sheena smiled at Livia good-naturedly. “It's all right. He says that to me a lot. I've learned to ignore it.”

Livia reached out and took his hand in hers. Adron's heart pounded at the softness of her touch.

Gods, he'd gotten so used to her. Had become dependent on having her with him . . . and that terrified him more than anything else.

What would he do if he ever lost her?

Livia narrowed her eyes at him. “You play nice.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Holding her hand over his heart, he nodded. And then he lifted his leg even though it felt like it was shredding every muscle he had.

Sheena's smile widened. “See, I knew you could do it.”

He ignored her.

Sheena moved to the next machine. “Okay, let's try some pulls now.”

Adron let go of Livia and sat up slowly. But no sooner was he upright than he felt the familiar burning in his chest. Two seconds later, his nose started bleeding and he coughed up blood.

“Damn it,” he snarled as Sheena grabbed a towel and handed it to him. He lay back down while Sheena called for Theo.

Without a single word, Livia brushed his hair back from his damp forehead. The tenderness of her touch and look scorched him. And it made him yearn even more for a way to love her as she deserved to be loved.

“Are you okay?”

He held the towel to his nose and mouth. “I just damaged another internal organ. Who knows which one. Since they're all pretty much soup, it could be . . .” His voice trailed off as Theo came in with a gurney and three orderlies.

Theo shook his head. “You know, Adron, if you want to spend the night with me, there are easier ways of going about it. You could just ask.”

He wasn't amused by Theo's playfulness as the orderlies picked him up and placed him on the gurney. “I want to go home.”

“Maybe tomorrow.” Theo put an oxygen mask on his face.

Adron pulled it off.

Livia put it back on.

Adron met her gaze and made no more attempts to remove it.

“I'll call your parents.” Holding his hand, she walked beside him as the orderlies pushed him through the all-too-familiar hallways.

When they reached the scanning room, Adron reluctantly let go of her.

Livia's heart was heavy as she watched the doors close behind him. How she wished she had her mother's healing powers. Her mother could make him whole again.

True, but if she did, she'd lose him forever. It was something she couldn't do no matter what because in the end, she was too selfish to heal him if it meant losing him.

He's in constant pain
. . .

And that broke her heart, but not as much as it would break if he lived a whole life without her.