“I appreciate that.”
“But even what you are seeing isn’t really right,” he said with no little frustration. “This is just a demonstration of power. It isn’t showing you how truly good we are. How incredibly moral Demons like my brother are.” He sighed. “I’m just not powerful enough or skilled enough.”
Corrine turned around against his body, not taking the opportunity of his loosened grip and lax attention to move away from him.
“On the contrary,” she said softly, reaching up to touch the edge of the wild dark curls lining his temple. “You’ve shown me that and more. If there is one thing I have learned at my job, it’s that those with power like to use it against those without. The fact that this is the first time I’ve even heard of a Demon, in spite of those extraordinary things I just saw them do, proves that you all wield your power with incredible regard for those around you. Your morals are shown in just the way you have restrained yourself from trying to win me over with methods even we humans wouldn’t hesitate to use against one another.”
He looked at her then with such a combination of fascination and true adoration that she bent her head, hiding her face against his breast bone.
“When I first saw you,” he whispered against the top of her head, “I admit it was your outer beauty that fascinated me. All of this glorious, fiery hair and your amazingly pale and perfect complexion. The way your eyes lit when you laughed, the way your curves filled out your clothing. But that was just the lure. As I watched you, as time went by and I saw the way you dealt with those around you. . that was the hook. Oh, Corrine, that was when I realized you were going to mean more to me than just a passing fancy. It was such a deep, visceral reaction. I knew you were meant for me. Even though every logical part of me understood it was forbidden for a Demon to touch a human being with the intentions that I had formed toward you. . I couldn’t let go. I couldn’t walk away.”
Corrine went still as his words sank into her brain.
“What do you mean, when you first saw me?” she asked, even though she was already feeling the truth rushing to the front of her mind. Things he had been saying, things that had been happening to her. If his explanation of how a Druid and Demon connection worked was to be understood, then. . “You’ve met me before all of this. You. . you touched me before. If what you are saying makes any sense at all, then you touched me long before I actually got sick.” She squirmed in his hold, trying to shrug him off. “Only, I don’t remember ever meeting you before. Ever being touched by you before.”
“Because when I met you, when I touched you, it was wrong of me to do so. It was illegal according to my people’s laws. Jacob stopped me from. . he made me erase your memory of any contact we had.”
“So you all have been messing with my mind? You stalked me, felt me up or something and then messed with my head so I wouldn’t remember? And now you’re trying to tell me what an up and up and moral society you have?” She pushed him off herself completely, stumbling as she backed away. “And for all I know you’ve got my sister locked up someplace where I’ll never see her. Or. .” Kane could see the panic welling in her eyes, brimming in her voice. “God, how do I know what’s real anymore? What can I trust anymore?”
He reached out to her, grabbing her by both of her upper arms and giving her a shake to stop the progression of her racing, panicked mind. It forced her wide green gaze up to his, forced her to look into his eyes and into him.
“Nothing I say or do is going to make up for the underhanded ways I have dealt with you in the past, and for that I am incredibly sorry. I know it was wrong. I beg your forgiveness for it. But the truth is I would do it all again. I don’t think I would even have an ounce of free will that could compel me otherwise. Corrine, I am now, and will always be, tied to your side. Destiny laid out a plan for you and me. She predestined that we should walk a powerful path together, that I should, in all things, be devoted to you. If that is shameful in your eyes, if that is something you perceive as nefarious and wrong. . then I am so sorry. I am. . heartbroken. I am at a loss as to how to be anything better for you than what I am. And to have failed my one true mate in this life shames me.”
There was no denying the weight of the shame she saw in his eyes. It simply took her breath away. Whatever was truth and whatever was made up by the power of his mind, there was nothing as clear to her as his sincerity in that moment. She should have doubted him. She should have remembered all the games men had played with her all these years as they strove to take one thing or another from her. She should have held him just as accountable for his lies as she did the other males who’d lied to her.
But she didn’t. For all of that history, for all of that mistrust and those painful lessons in deception, they had never touched the true heart of her. She had never stopped wanting forever after and a soul mate. She continued to crave a real partner in life who would support her when she needed it and who would look to her for support when he needed it.
When she looked at Kane, when she collated all he had been telling her and all she had seen and experienced so far, she saw exactly what she had been looking for. However, it would take a huge leap of faith on her part. There was a very fine line between what she craved and the attentions of a psychotic stalker. How would she tell the difference? How did anyone tell the difference?
“They can’t tell the difference, to be honest,” Kane said, reminding her how easily he could read her thoughts. “They go purely on faith. They have to trust themselves and what they are feeling. You need to trust yourself. You will make a wise, solid choice based on your intelligence and your instincts.”
“I would,” she breathed, pulling closer to him so she could gaze up into his clean, honest eyes. “But you have to admit, your power is enough to make anyone doubt the workings of their own mind.”
“What can I do to make it better for you? To make it easier? Tell me. Anything. I’ll do it.”
“A promise. A promise that you’ll never manipulate my mind again without asking me first. Even something like this.” She looked up and around at the crisp dark sky filled with the stars. They were sharp, bright, and beautiful. Breathtaking.
“What you’re asking. . it will be hard for me. Let me explain,” he said hastily when she frowned. “All of my life I’ve been trained to use the powers of my mind in all ways and in all things. Demons use their powers as reflexively as humans draw breath. I will never mean you any harm and I do not intend to lord my power over you, but my need to use power is unthinking. Just as you would thrust your hands out in front of you to break a fall, if I were in danger. . if you were in danger, I would not be able to help my reaction.”
She had to give him credit for his honesty. He had the power to make a promise and then do as he wished, wiping her memory of any transgressions or trespasses.
“That I can promise you,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “I can swear to you never to erase your memory of anything again. . without your express permission. It is my philosophy that our experiences, both good and bad, shape our character. It does us little good to constantly remove what is ill from our memory. Yes, it gives us peace from trauma, but it is hard to know if that serves us or harms us in the long run. There may even come a time, in the future, when you will beg me for my skill and I will need to deny you. Understand I will do so only because it is morally right and hopefully best for you in the long run. My heart, however, will wish only to spare you any and all pain.”