Tony laughed out loud as his hand slammed down on the table. “You think you will get one of the dark elves to betray their king?” He shook his head. “Not likely. They’re too scared of what he will do to them.”

Rin sat up from where he had been lying on one of the motel beds. “We never said it was going to be one of the dark elves,” he pointed out. “We said it had to be a subject of Lorsan, meaning anyone under his rule.”

Tony’s head turned slowly until his eyes collided with the large warrior. “Ahh,” he blew out a breath. “You want me to be the sacrifice.”

“Are you ready to talk?” Cush asked.

Elora straightened her shirt for the hundredth time, though it hadn’t needed it the other ninety-nine times either, and studiously tried to avoid meeting his penetrating gaze.

“Well, I don’t think I have much of a choice; it seems that you and my mom are in cahoots against me.”

She heard the warm rumble of his deep chuckle and fought the urge to climb in his lap and beg him to hold her close. She had to be strong and she had to get a freaking grip because she needed him to understand that she wasn’t going to let this happen between them just because they were destined for one another. Did she want him? Hell yes, but not if it cost him doing what he loved most.

“So?” he prompted when she didn’t continue further.

Finally she tilted her head up to look at him. She immediately realized that this was a bad decision because his light blue eyes were nearly dancing with desire, and she could practically see him shaking like a junky with his need to get his hands on her. She knew the feeling.

“I realized something today while we were out there,” she motioned towards the door past him, “burning up elf plants and running for our lives.”

He waited.

She twisted her hands in her lap and bit at her bottom lip before she continued. “I realized that you really enjoy hunting down bad guys, and you really enjoy being a warrior—doing what you are trained to do.”

“You realized this because I told you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, I realized it because it was written all over your face. You were like a little kid on Christmas.”

“And?”

Her eyes widened at him and her jaw tightened as anger welled up inside of her. “And?” she snapped. “And I’ve decided that I’m not going to be the one who takes that from you. I’m not going to be the reason you stop doing what you trained to do—what you obviously love to do.” She was breathing a little heavier when she finished as she attempted to get her emotions under control. It was so hard with him and she still wasn’t used to feeling so emotional and frankly, she didn’t like it.

“What do you mean you’ve decided?” His low voice and soft words should have been a red flag for her to just shut up, but then Elora was getting really good at ignoring red flags when it came to Cush. “Decided what exactly?” he asked.

She let out a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. She pulled the long mane over her shoulder and quickly braided it, using it as an excuse to think before she finally just said what she needed to say.

“I’ve decided that once this is all done, once Lorsan is taken care of and Trik and Cassie are safe and all is right in the world, we…,” she motioned between them, “will just go on with our lives,” she paused, “separately, in our own realms.” Elora decided that as soon as that last word left her mouth she had never heard such utter, complete silence. It was as if the damn bed bugs, that she was sure were living in the motel bed, were holding their breath waiting to see what the warrior would do. He took a step towards her and she struggled not to stand from where she sat and move away from his imposing presence.

“You honestly believe I would choose my job over you?” he finally asked after several tense minutes of silence. “You think that I would rather go into battle than be with my Chosen?” he asked before she could answer the first question.

Elora licked her lips nervously and then pulled her shoulders back and stood up so that she didn’t have to tilt her head so far back to look at him. “That’s just it, Cush. I may be your Chosen, but you didn’t choose me.” BAM, she thought to herself, how do you like them apples. “You feel what you feel because you have to. You don’t have a choice and that’s not good enough for me. Not when it means that you might just throw away something that you love doing, something that you actually chose to do.”

He laughed but she didn’t think for a minute that there was any humor in that laugh.

“You think that I chose to be a warrior? You think that this life wasn’t forced on me? We aren’t human, Elora. We don’t live in a society where we go to school and get to be whatever our little hearts’ desire. As a male of my race the first thing they evaluate us for, before we are even a handful of years old, is our battle skills. Do we defend ourselves or do we hide? Do we protect others first or do we think of our own safety first. I was chosen by my king before I turned four summers. I was singled out to be a warrior long before I even had aspirations or dreams. Don’t think for a minute that I ever chose this life. It was chosen for me. I was predestined for it—just as you were predestined for me.

Elora didn’t know what to say to that. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to be a child and told that you would be a warrior—that you didn’t have a choice. “You see that’s my point,” she said suddenly as she realized what she was trying to get across to him. He had just made her point for her and she wasn’t going to let the advantage slip away. “You have never been given a choice in your life and I’m not going to do the same thing to you. Okay, I get it; we’re soul mates. I totally believe that.” She wasn’t about to deny it because she could feel her soul was screaming at her to shut her big trap. “But I’m not going to tell you that you have to be with me just because we were made for each other. That’s not fair to you,” she paused and then finished with, “or me.”