Saving Verakko: The Clecanian Series Book 3 Victoria Aveline (best book club books .TXT) 📖

the nasty urge to lift onto her toes and press a kiss to his smirking lips.

My alternative.

Verakko’s smile faltered, and his dark brows drew together, the silence between them heavy.

“I think we should keep going if you’re able.” Verakko slipped his shirt off and shoved it over her head before she could protest. The fabric was soaking, just like her own clothing, but the heat from his body still clung to the wet shirt.

Warmth spread through Lily’s chest despite the icy rain.

“I’m confident this river leads to my home city. I’ll ask my mother to send a group of her soldiers out to search for Alex if she isn’t already there.” He gave a weak smile. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of living out here.”

“Your mother’s soldiers?” Lily asked, unnerved. “Why does your mother have soldiers?”

Verakko licked a fang with his tongue, and his gaze darted. “She’s the queen of my city.”

Lily blinked. The queen? “You’re a…a prince?”

A crease formed on his forehead, and he scanned her face. Was she as pale as she felt? “I suppose.”

“You’ll be king someday?”

Verakko scrunched his brows together in confusion. “No. The people will choose her successor with her input. As her child, I’m excluded from consideration.”

Alternative, a voice whispered in her ear, making her stomach flip. No wonder he’d told her it would never work! Her breathing hitched, and she turned away from him, then back. This would be all they could ever have. Stolen moments in a forest, away from prying eyes. Alien planet or not, a queen was a queen. Lily deflated. She’d never had a shot.

I asked him if he’d like to date. A hysterical laugh burst out of her at the thought, earning a perplexed look from Verakko.

“We should cover as much ground as we can in this weather. The Strigi won’t fly through a storm like this.” His lips thinned for a moment, then he said, “I can carry you.”

“No,” Lily blurted, taking a step back.

The skin around his eyes tightened, and a muscle ticked in his jaw.

Her heart thumped against her chest in protest. He was hurting; she could see it in his eyes. His confusion and sadness. Guilt swamped her. She’d pushed for this with her idiotic positivity. Thinking she could win over his mother and it’d all work out. She’d made a man from a planet low on females care for a female he could never have.

“What happened, Lily?” His voice was strong, forceful even. He didn’t need to elaborate—they both knew what he was referring to.

“Last night, that name you called me,” she began, knowing she had to hear it from him in order to truly move on. “It translated as alternative. Does that mean alternative to your wife?”

As his shoulders bunched and the muscles in his jaw worked, her hopes sputtered out. He nodded. “Technically, yes. But it means more than that to me. It means I’d never feel for anyone else what I feel for you.”

“I think…” She gulped. “I think you were right. We should keep our distance from each other.”

“Why?” he asked as if he knew it was the right thing to do but needed to be convinced of it himself.

“Because—” she looked around wildly, “—it seems like that nickname is more special than it sounds, but it’s still a term for someone who isn’t your wife, and I can’t be in that type of relationship. Seeing you with someone else, even if it’s just a temporary arrangement…it would hurt me. It’d be better for both of us if we stopped this now.” Was she already past the point of no return? Lily felt like she’d be sick. She took a deep breath in and out, then pushed past him and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

***

Verakko trudged after Lily, feeling lower than the mud beneath her flimsy soles.

He’d gone too far last night. She’d trusted him, let him in her mind, slept in his arms. She’d whispered sweet words to him, and all the while he’d been wondering how to get out of his tangle of lies.

Alternative. His translator had taken a moment to choose the word, reciting mivassi, then alternative, indicating it wasn’t a direct translation. But it was close enough. Mivassi was a word that referred to a claimed alternative to your chosen spouse while under contract. Only used in the rarest of instances when a person recognized their mate while married to another.

Lids sliding shut, he hung his head. Her glassy eyes had made it clear she thought he was referring to her as a female second to his wife. Should he clarify? What would be the point?

He couldn’t claim her as his mivassi. He had no evidence. If his eyes had changed or if his marks had appeared, he could claim her and his contract would be void, but without any evidence that she was his, the claim would be rejected and he’d have to honor his contract to Ziritha. Explaining the name may only give her false hope that he could get out of his marriage.

An equally upsetting outcome of him clarifying the true meaning of mivassi was that it may scare her. Claiming someone as a mivassi was the equivalent of announcing you’d unintentionally found your mate. Lily would be expected to stay with him forever. Knowing the physical and mental ramifications of being apart from one’s mate, his mother would no doubt ensure she remained with him. By force if necessary. Verakko was almost one hundred percent certain Lily wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment.

Either way, he shouldn’t have used the name. It had been accidental, springing to his lips so readily. Likely because he’d grown up hearing it used as a term of endearment. He’d have to make an effort to not use it again. The depressing truth