“Well, Kindness is always happy to help.” He nodded somberly. “But did her lies actually help? Do you like me less now?”
“Well, I still like you enough to come here and…to let you make mecome.” I tilted my head with a tiny smile.
He gave me that look of warm adoration that made me weak in my knees and melted my heart in response.
“Nic, dearest…” He brushed my hair aside, then gently circled the dimple on my left cheek with his finger. “Please give me the chance to win your heart.”
“How are you planning to do it?”
“I deeply believe that all I need is time. I have to regain your trust, to prove that I’m worthy of your affection, but I can’t do that with all my brothers already lining up to court you.”
“Nobody is courting me,” I laughed, confused about how he’d come up with that.
“Didn’t Gul call on you last afternoon, bringing his stupid cannelloni as a courting gift?” he growled low.
“Gul brought the cannelloni, yes, but I didn’t get to meet him. I was in the kitchen, and Kindness didn’t let him in.”
My words didn’t seem to make him feel any better.
“Mother must be keeping them at bay for now,” he said gravely. “She wants us to compete in a race for the prize of your affection.”
A tendril of worry tightened around my chest.
“What does that even mean?” I frowned. “How can a personal feeling like affection work as a prize?”
“You’dbe the actual prize, my dear—you and the chance to earn your affection afterwards as Mother informed me this morning in a second visit since…well, since the day I started living on my own. Mother would lift the wards around the teahouse, and the winner of the race would get the honor to host you in his place.”
“But it isn’t right. It can’t be legal to use a person as a prize in a game. Why didn’t Pandora talk to me first? I’m not some trophy to be won.” I pursed my lips in indignation and clenched my fists tightly, but fear slithered inside me already.
Here in Purgatory, I was but a mere human among the mighty, supernatural beings. How could I stop them from doing whatever they wished with me?
“This race can’t happen,” I said, hating how small my voice sounded.
“Nic…” He hugged me to his chest, and I leaned against it for support, my heart thundering inside my ribcage as if trying to leap out and run. “No matter what, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Okay,” I said, with little faith in his words because they sounded too much like an actual white lie right now, just to make me feel better.
“If I win the race—and trust me that I will win it, come hell or high water—you’ll stay with me until Avar is back,” he murmured soothingly, stroking my back. “I’ll get the transcendence potion from him?—”
“Will you let me go back?” I looked up to see his face.
“Sweetheart, I’ll do everything to make you happy. If you want to return to your world, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“Thank you.” Hope eased my worry a little. I wanted to trust him so badly, but I still wasn't sure if I should.
“I’ll do more than that, dearest. Avar has a device that can transport you back to the time when I took you from. I know it’s important to you. You’ll go back to that Sunday morning and won’t miss the finals of your cake decorating challenge.”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Is something like that even possible? Also, isn’t Avar mad at you for taking his ring?”
“I’ll make it possible, sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about any of it. I’ve messed it up badly between us. Let me fix it. Please give me a chance to make up for what I’ve done.”
“But for all of that to happen, you’ll need to win that race first.”
He nodded. “After I win, no one will ever contest my right to claim you. I’ll be able to do whatever I want, and all I want is to make you happy.”
“But what if you lose?” Blood rushed from my extremities, leaving my hands cold and trembling. “What willtheydo to me then?”