Page 73 of The Seeker
Meera was the heir of Anamitra, heir of heaven’s wisdom. The repository of Irina memory on earth. Raised by her elders. Taken from her parents as soon as her magic was made evident. Nothing about Meera’s life had been normal. Everything had been prescribed…
“Everything was decided for her,” Rhys murmured. “Where she lived. Whom she spent time with. What she ate and drank. Everyone around her is in her retinue.”
“A very dutiful life,” Malachi said softly. “She must value what little independence she has achieved.”
“Yes.” Rhys closed his eyes. “She doesn’t want a mate chosen by her parents. She doesn’t want a mate chosen by heaven either.”
“No, I expect not.”
“What do I do, brother?”
“If she were not yourreshon, would you still want her?”
He’d wanted her almost from the moment he met her. He’d just been annoyed at the idea. “She is everything I want, even if I didn’t know it before.”
Malachi said, “That’s beautiful, Rhys.”
He squeezed his eyes closed. “Shut up and give me advice, Malachi.”
“Okay, let me think.” There was a silence on the line. “She’s like you, isn’t she?”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s arrogant, impressed by her own intelligence, and likely to think her opinion is superior to everyone else’s?”
“Well… yes.”
“And she’s a language geek as well?”
Rhys rolled his eyes. “What does that word even mean? It’s a derogatory term for eighteenth-century circus performers.”
“I’m going to assume that means she is.” Malachi cleared his throat. “Excellent. Then all you need to do to convince her that you two belong together is to show her why falling in love with you is the most logical, sane, and productive path. If you show her that, continue to build trust, and practice patience, this will all work out. She needs to think this is her idea. Her choice. Not just another thing pushed on her from outside her own will. Persuade her, Rhys. Respectfully.”
“I don’t want to persuade her. And I don’t want logical, sane, and patient,” Rhys growled. “I want to rip her clothes off and run away with her.”
“I’m just following my instincts here, but I wouldn’t lead with that.”
Rhys hungup the phone after fifteen more minutes of Malachi explaining to him why patience was a virtue. He was mostly convinced until he smelled Meera’s scent on his shirt from earlier in the evening and his arousal raged again.
What was wrong with him? He was acting like a scribe barely out of the academy.
She’s yourreshon.
Everything in him pushed to go to her, find her, and make sure she was safe and protected. Logically he knew her own magic was formidable and she didn’t need him to protect her. That didn’t seem to matter.
Someone knocked on the door.
Meera.
Rhys opened it a second later. “Hello.”
“I came to apologize for being self-centered.”
He frowned. “That wasn’t why I was mad. You have every reason to look out for yourself.”
Two lines formed between her eyebrows. “Then I don’t understand why you’re so angry with me.”
“I’m angry with you because…” He glanced behind her and saw two humans walking their direction. “Come inside. Please.”
