Daughter of the Dark Moon: Book 3 of the Twin Moons Saga by Holly Bargo

Author:Holly Bargo [Bargo, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hen House Publishing
Published: 2018-07-18T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Uberon felt his mate’s discomfort as they rode. Skimming her thoughts and emotions he observed her reaction to a new understanding of her dependency upon him. She struggled with the concept of limited—or nonexistent—rights and privileges, far different than what she was accustomed to. In many ways, his world imposed greater burdens and expectations upon its females than did hers.

“Am I really your property?” she asked in a small, uncertain voice.

He answered as honestly as he could without causing Corinne additional and unnecessary distress. “You are mine, but I do not consider you chattel. I would never see you as mere property.”

She favored him with a small smile of gratitude, but did not accept his evasion. “That doesn’t answer my question, Uberon. Am I chattel?”

“Donshae is a free city in that it vows allegiance to no one nation. It is governed by a council of men who decide the laws that benefit them. It benefits them to relegate females to chattel.”

“How does it benefit them?” she cried.

He raised an eyebrow in silent reminder of her own world’s history, of the cultures in which women still petitioned and fought for basic rights as thinking, feeling human beings. Corinne sighed in defeat and guessed she ought to be grateful that Uberon was more considerate of her.

“I don’t want your gratitude,” he said, his voice guttural and rough.

Her gaze flew to him, tall and elegant in the saddle as the horses moved swiftly, steadily, tirelessly.

“I want you. I want everything you are and, in return, I give you all that I am.” He glanced at her, held her gaze for a long, intense moment. “Our souls are merged. I could no more desecrate you than myself.”

She nodded, knowing that much about the arrogant and proud Unseelie king. She also supposed that the exchange of everything of herself for everything of himself was rather uneven. He was larger than life. Legendary. So much more.

Not for the first time in her short life, Corinne felt inadequate.

“Never.”

She glanced at him again.

He thumped a fist against his muscled chest. “Fate does not pair the souls of unequal mates. You complete me. You are light to my darkness, compassion to my cruelty. I give you strength, you give me softness. We complement each other.”

He opened his mind and pulled her in, so she could see the truth of his words, his conviction. She gasped and tears welled in her eyes.

“I do not want your gratitude,” he repeated.

“And I cannot help but give it to you,” she sniffled. “All my life I tagged in someone else’s footsteps. I was never as strong, as fast, or as clever as my brothers. I earned a degree my family does not value because they see no good purpose in it. I began a career that they don’t understand and which offered no consistency, no security.”

She sniffled and took a moment to bring herself under control.

“I’m the family failure, the screw-up, the impractical one.”

“And yet they love you,” he countered.

“They do,” she acknowledged.

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