He couldn’t allow it. Faye had to stay.

Cain ran out the door, chasing her down the corridor. He followed her scent up the stairs and through the entrance hall. The two guards at the door tossed him surprised glances, but he ignored them and ran past them.

The humid night air hit him as if he’d stepped into a sauna. His eyes scanned the grounds. He spotted her as she ran past a copse of trees. He sprinted toward her, reaching her within a few seconds. He captured her in his arms and turned her to him.

“Please let me go, Cain!” she begged.

She struggled for a moment, but then all resistance seemed to drain from her, and sobs filled the silence of the night.

“I can’t let you go,” Cain said and turned her to him, holding her close and pressing her head against his chest.

A few yards away, under the copse of trees, he noticed a bench. He lifted her into his arms and walked to it, lowering himself onto it with Faye in his lap. He pressed her head against his chest and caressed her hair.

“Don’t cry.” He placed kisses on her head, wanting desperately to soothe her sorrows. “I’m sorry for having upset you. I didn’t mean to. Please, Faye, don’t leave.”

She lifted her head. Pink tears ran down her cheeks, and he wiped them away with the pad of his thumb.

“I can’t stay. It hurts too much.”

He pushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and stroked his thumb over her soft skin. “Tell me what hurts,” he said softly.

She lowered her lids, avoiding his gaze. But he didn’t allow it and lifted her chin with his thumb and index finger and made her look at him. “Please help me understand you.”

He gazed into her eyes. Was all this an act she was putting on for him so he would take her back now that she’d broken it off with Abel, or was what he saw the real Faye? Did she really want him for his own sake, or was she coming back to him because he was king?

And did it even matter? Wasn’t it enough to have a woman like Faye by his side, in his bed?

“It hurts too much to have lost your love.”

He sighed. If he were a different man, he would tell her now that he loved her whether he did or not. But he couldn’t profess something he wasn’t sure was the truth. “A year is a long time. We’ve both changed, Faye. We need time to readjust.”

Her lips trembled. “You’re punishing me because I accepted Abel’s proposal. You feel that I betrayed you.”

Cain shook his head. “I’m not punishing you. I’m trying to understand why you decided to marry him when you don’t love him.”

“I know what it must look like. But it’s not like that. I didn’t do it for myself.”

Curious, he said, “I don’t understand.”

“As queen I would have had influence.”

Cain closed his eyes. So she wanted the power her position as queen would have afforded her. He felt the blood in his veins turn to ice. How could he be drawn to a woman like that? A woman without a heart? Was that truly his destiny? Had he loved a heartless woman in his past life? What did that make him? A heartless man?

“Your brother is less lenient a ruler than you are,” Faye continued. “Somebody has to make sure the members of our clan were treated fairly.”

Her words made him open his eyes and furrow his forehead.

“They need somebody to look out for them.”

The implication of her words finally sank in. But could he trust her words? “You were doing this for the clan?”

“I wanted to continue what you’d started.”

Cain brought his face closer to hers. Was she telling him the truth?

Her breath bounced against him and he inhaled her scent. A vision of two naked bodies entangled in silk sheets appeared before his eyes. Soft moans and sounds of pleasure drifted to his ears.

“And now that I told you my reasons, please let me go. I can’t stay here, not when you’re going to bring another woman here to make her your queen.”

“What?”

Faye tried to get off his lap, but he didn’t let her. He needed to find out what she was talking about.

“Cain!”

Cain whipped his head in the direction of the voice. Haven was marching toward them.

“I’m sorry to disturb,” Haven started.

“Not now!” Cain ground out, while Faye scrambled to get off his lap. This time he couldn’t stop her.

“You said you wanted to be notified the minute John is back.”

Cain jumped up. This was extremely bad timing. “Where is he?”