“No more than any man hurts any woman when their hearts bump together. You would take the same risks with her.” She angled her head as she studied his face. “Do you think your father and I have loved over thirty years without a scratch or bruise?”

“She’s not like us.” He squeezed the hand he held, then released it. “If I take the steps, if I let us both feel more than we do now, I’d have to let her go or turn my back on my obligations. Obligations you know I came here to sort out.” Furious with himself, he turned back to the sea. “I haven’t even done that. I know my father wants me to take his place.”

“Well, not quite yet,” Arianna said with a laugh. “But yes, when the time is right, it’s hoped you’ll stand as head of the family, as Liam of Donovan, to guide.”

“It’s a power I can pass to another. That’s my right.”

“Aye, Liam.” Concerned now, she slid from the rock to go to him. “It’s your right to step aside, to let another wear the amulet. Is that what you want?”

“I don’t know.” Frustration rang in his voice. “I’m not my father. I don’t have his … way with others. His judgment. His patience or his compassion.”

“No. You have your own.” She laid a hand on his arm. “If you weren’t fit for the responsibility, you would not be given it.”

“I’ve thought of that, tried to come to accept it. And I know that if I commit to a woman not of elfin blood, I abdicate the right to take those responsibilities. If I let myself love her, I turn my back on my obligations to my family.”

Arianna’s eyes sharpened as she studied his face. “Would you?”

“If I let myself love her, I’d turn my back on anything, on everything but her.”

She closed her eyes then, felt the tears welling in them. “Oh, it’s proud I am to hear it, Liam.” Eyes drenched, she laid a hand on his heart. “There is no stronger magic, no truer power than love. This above all I want you to learn, to know, to feel.”