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“Because it will hurt you. Because I won’t do it.”
“Do what? Hurt me how?” Jade tensed and clutched his arm tighter, even though old instincts said she ought to back away.
“Come, not out here.” Ardol suddenly picked up speed and then picked her up, tossing her behind him so that she was riding on his back while hanging onto his shoulders as he sped into the house and up the stairs to his suite.
Once inside, he sat her down on the bed and kneeled in front of her. “My Father...”
“Doesn't like me? I know that, babe. But if you like me, that’s all that matters.”
“He wants me to take a second Queen, my half-cousin, to wed in name only. He wants her to be the mother to our cubs.”
Jade’s pale, creamy skin drained of color until she matched the silver-white moon. “What?”
“To appeal to the traditionalists in the district and on the rest of the planet, he wants me to have a Leopardine wife to parade in the public eye while you produce heirs.”
Her voice was empty. “Oh. So, I’d be a sex toy that makes babies.”
Ardol gripped her chin with one paw. “Jade. If you for one moment think I will agree to that—you’re forgetting something. I love you. I treasure you. I couldn’t do that, and I don’t want to.”
“But you have to. I’m not a fool, Ardol. If you tell your dad no, what will he do?”
“Give the title to his next oldest son.”
“Right. You’ll lose this. This is paradise,” Jade whispered, eyes turning to look out the terrace windows. Lush steppes. Towering gray and white mountains. Soft breezes blew in the scents of a thousand flowers. “Heaven must be like this.”
“Heaven doesn’t ask you to hurt your wife and betray her trust.”
“Ardol. It’s not just about the title. If you become District Lord, you can change things for the better, you said so.”
“I can try—but if my father is elected as Archlord—he can put a stop to the biggest changes—and I can only become District Lord if he wins the election. No. There are too many moving pieces and no guarantees. The price is too high, Jade. You—you are the price. I won’t pay it.”
“But... But what if he disowns you or something?” Jade asked, heart filling so fast that she was afraid it would fly out of her chest on its new wings. Someone was choosing her. Not just choosing her to keep, but choosing her over everything else.
And she really shouldn’t let him do that. She could never repay something like that. His proposal took her from rags to riches, and now his defense of her would take him from riches to rags. She’d lived in those dregs, selling bits of her soul in exchange for survival. She didn’t want Ardol to feel that same pain.
“Will you leave me without the title and the income that goes with it? We spoke of it before, but now it’s not hypothetical, my Queen. It’s real. I will tell my father I cannot support his ideas for my life, and his displeasure will change my future. And it’ll happen tomorrow.” Ardol stopped kneeling and sat beside her on the bed.
“I’ll always be with you. It’s not about the money—not anymore.” She moved into his lap, pressing her head to his chest, soothed by the sound of his heartbeat. “I just don’t think I’m enough for you to... to throw this all away.”
His chin was resting on her head, and she could hear his words as well as feel them vibrating through his chest and into her being. “My dreams changed when I met you. Do you have a dream, my love? Tell me what it is, because that’s what I want, too.”
Her dreams.
Money. Freedom. Security. Warm climates. Respect.
She blinked, and the cold, hard material objects she associated with those dreams were gone.
“I want to live somewhere with you and our cubs. I don’t want to give my sons away or have you never see your daughters grow up. I want us to live in one nice little house, in one nice little town. We’ll find some work to do, something that doesn’t hurt either of us. You’re not just some pretty rich boy. You’re smart, you’re charming, and you know how to get things done. And me? Well. I used to be afraid of hard work because it hurt and it didn’t pay off. But now it will. If I have you—it will all be worth it.”
“Oh, Jade.” Ardol pulled her face up for a kiss, resting his forehead on hers. “You think I’m giving something up for you, but it’s mutual, my love. You’re letting go of all the wealth and luxury you always wanted. And all you get is—”
“Everything,” Jade interrupted, voice firm. “I get everything I could ever want. I get you.”
Chapter Nineteen
“It went through. Father’s going to have a hairball.”
Jade put down her personal computer. They’d been up all night, and she’d never been more proud of her husband, or more exhausted.
