“I am a great king and yet I was reduced to behaving like a small child. I acted like a little boy. My grandmother would throw me over her knee if she found out how I treated you, and rightly so.” He seemed to speak more to himself than to her. His eyes moved back to meet with hers. “There is nothing that I could say or do to make it right. There is no turning back the clock. When I heard about those other males, I freaked out. I let jealousy overtake me. I allowed myself to fall in love with a female who wouldn’t allow me to claim her. No female has ever turned me down before. I was… am so in love with you that I can’t think straight. I’m a jealous asshole…” He shook his head. “Like I said…” He grabbed her hands in his. “There is no turning back the clock but maybe you would agree to us starting over. A new beginning.”

He was in love with her.

In love.

With her.

She could hardly breathe. She felt light headed. She hadn’t expected this. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen but this wasn’t it. Firstly the emotion. The tears. A grown man… shifter - eek - crying because of what had happened to her. Then this. She’d expected him to be pushy about getting back together but starting over and love and apologies. He was opening up to her and admitting to his feelings.

Torrent was frowning, his face filled with concern. “I know.” He gave her hands a squeeze before letting go. “Too soon. I’m sorry.”

More apologies.

No pushing at all.

Her hearted melted some more.

“I’ll get out of your hair. I’ll—”

She grabbed his hand. “Okay…” she hadn’t just said that. She realized that she was smiling.

Torrent looked unsure for a second and then he smiled back. “Okay, as in yes?”

“Yes, but we start over and not where we left off. We start at the beginning.”

“The beginning?” His frown deepened. “Should I hunt you again? I might have to kill others if they—”

Candy laughed. “No, we’ll skip that part but maybe we can be friends and see where we go from there. You hurt me really badly. You made me feel cheap and worthless.”

Torrent swallowed thickly, his throat worked but he didn’t say anything.

“We can try but I can’t make any promises.” She was such a liar. Her heart was a puddle inside her chest. The question wasn’t if she could take him back, it was how long before she did.

He nodded. “I will strive every day to show you what you mean to me. To prove to you how much I value you. You are more precious than gold or diamands. I hope you know that.”