My eyes narrowed on her face, offended by the question. “Because if there’s no reason, it’s real. If it were conditional, based on a reason, then when that reason no longer existed, neither would everything else. The fact that there is no reason makes it unconditional. That’s much stronger than having a reason…and that’s why it’s real.” My heart had been dead for a long time. Incapable of feeling anything at all except greed and vengeance, it beat for a purpose, but never a reason. Now, it was alive and strong, pounding hard every single day for the woman across from me.

She held my gaze for a long time, her eyes far away, as if thinking about my words on an elemental level. Whenever she was deep in thought, her eyebrows shifted slightly and held the position. That was what she did now.

“I leave tomorrow.”

Her concentrated look was instantly shattered by my announcement.

“Not sure how many days I’ll be gone.” The camp was running smoothly, so it shouldn’t require my attention very long. Magnus had restored that camp and improved it beyond its former glory. It basically got a remodel we didn’t know we needed.

She immediately looked disappointed, just as she did every time I left, like she truly missed me, wanted me home with her because, without me, she was lost. Her need was the sexiest thing in the world to me. She needed to be taken care of—and I got to be the one to do it. I got to be the one to cover her in diamonds and kisses. I got to be the one to keep her full with the most delectable food possible. I got to dress her in the finest designer clothing, the finest lingerie.

Me.

She looked down at her plate for a moment, absent-mindedly moving her fork around. “Take me with you.” She lifted her eyes and looked at me through her thick eyelashes.

Those nights together in her cabin had never left my memory. Sometimes when I stared at her painting, flashbacks came to me—the first time she gave herself to me, the first time I earned her. That was the beginning of the end for me. My obsession grew into something deeper. “Why?”

“I want to see my sister.” She gave her answer immediately without having to think twice about it.

Her response disappointed me.

“And I hate it every time you’re gone…”

My eyes locked on to hers and saw only sincerity. She told me her primary reason with blunt honesty. She told me her second reason with conviction.

“It’s not the same without you—”

“You’re perfectly safe there—”

“I’m safe with you. The palace, the men, the luxuries…are nothing without you.”