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

Verakko lifted his hands and opened his mouth, but all that came out was a frustrated breath.

“You know how I feel about marriage. I told you I want to know my partner inside and out before committing my whole life to them. And you knew how I felt about Clecanian marriages, yet you led me here. You might’ve changed your mind at the last minute, but you were planning on bringing me here before that. Was this all some kind of game to you?” Tears burned at her eyes and blurred her vision. She tensed her muscles to keep a sob from escaping. “Humans have become a valuable commodity on your planet, so you make me depend on you. Care about you. Open up to you. So that if you recognized me, I’d be forced to agree or else watch you marry someone else? It’s only been a few days!” Lily shouted and lifted her hands protectively in front of her. “I won’t be trapped.”

“I never wanted to make you feel trapped, Lily.” His gaze darted around, and he clutched at his hair with both hands. “I’m not explaining this right.”

“You’ve explained it fine. I’m angry, but I understand why you did what you did. If you’d told me about your fiancée, I would have treated you differently. If you’d told me about what might happen to me here, I would’ve never agreed to come. And now, I can see you want me, want us to be together, but…” She took a deep breath, then continued. “I understand, but it doesn’t change how I feel. I feel hurt and betrayed and stupid. And I feel like I don’t know you anymore.” Lily swiped a tear off her cheek. “And that makes me feel even more stupid, because I only met you a week ago. I don’t know you.” Verakko’s chest shakily rose and fell, and the look of misery and pain in his eyes cut through her like glass. “If you’re asking me to make a lifelong commitment to you right now…I can’t.” Lily recalled Verakko saying the exact same thing to her, and a sob tore from her throat.

Verakko crossed to her before she had a chance to blink. She tripped back a step, and a blast of smoky cedar hit her nostrils, but instead of the calming effect it normally had, she only felt angrier.

“Do you care about me?” He cupped her cheek, and she wanted to melt. “Be honest,” he added. His voice rang through her mind, and fire seemed to shoot through her veins.

“Don’t you dare try to sway me!” Lily shoved at him with all her strength.

Verakko gazed into her eyes, the intensity of his bright-green stare sending chills down her spine. “If I show anyone these marks, it’ll get back to my mother, and she’ll force you to be with me. If I don’t make that announcement, I’ll have to marry Ziritha to avoid punishment, and you’ll have to negotiate a contract with some other male. If it were up to me, I’d have claimed you as my mate already. But I acknowledge I’ve already kept too many things from you, and I also realize you don’t feel the mating pull the way I do. So, I lied—to my mother, the Queen—in order to give you time to decide what you want to do. It’s up to you.”

“I need a minute alone. Where can I go?” Lily asked quietly, biting the inside of her cheek to keep the tears threatening to fall at bay.

Verakko pointed to the stairs, and she silently followed him up. She barely took in the second seating area overlooking an expansive view or the framed screens playing a short movie on the walls, what she assumed was their version of art. Lily didn’t want to acknowledge the mystery woman’s impeccable tastes. She just wanted to be alone.

Verakko led her into a large, bright bedroom dominated by a tall bed, and her eyes locked onto the soft mountain of blankets and pillows. She felt Verakko lingering behind her and inhaled deeply.

She didn’t want to look at him or his handsome, grief-stricken expression anymore. It wasn’t fair. He’d been lying to her from the start, yet every time she looked at him, she wanted to forget she’d ever learned about his betrayal. She wanted to run into his arms and pretend everything would be okay.

The pull to forgive and forget angered and terrified her. Would she always forgive him this quickly? Always brush any indiscretion under the rug because she couldn’t bear the thought of life without him?

She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced toward the ceiling covered in silver glowing orbs before turning to face him. His dark brows lifted in the center with worry and pain. He ran his gaze over her body not with lust but with barely contained longing. He stared at her like she was on the other side of thick glass. As if he wanted to touch her with every fiber of his being but could only look.

“I’m going to make us some food. Come down when you’re ready.”

Lily swallowed and nodded, not trusting her own shaky voice. When he silently left, she sank to the ground, pulling her knees into her chest. She didn’t know what to do. A part of her wanted to drag him back in the room and agree to be with him, but the other part was scared. How could she promise to be with a man who’d already betrayed her trust so thoroughly?

How could she be with someone who made her feel so dependent and helpless? She never wanted to need anybody, yet here she was, sleeping in his house, wearing the clothes he’d bought for her, and relying on him for almost every aspect of her future. She’d put