Page 132 of Sands of Atonement

“What about your own laws?” I asked quietly.

“What about them?”

“Can you change your own laws?” My eyes finally met his narrowed gaze.

“They are there for a reason. The past Atrovian leaders have kept our families from fighting each other through generations because that was their job. Not to have families, but to guide others.”

“But—”

“There is no but.” His eyes flashed at me.

“Yes, there is,” I pressed on.

“You simply don’t understand.” He gritted his teeth.

“Then explain it to⁠—”

“Women complicate things. You complicate things. I am complicated now because of you. You’re a problem to me that shouldn’t even exist in my world. I can’t decide what’s best for the Atrove now because I’m compromised.”

My lips parted, letting out a quiet gasp echoing across the small canyon. “Are you?” I whispered.

“What?” he growled.

“Compromised?”

“Of course I am.” Ezra brushed a hand over his face. “I want what’s best for you, not for the Atrove. I want to protect you over the Atrove.”

My heart might have expanded and warmed just a bit more by his confession. “I see.” I pushed my fallen hair behind my ear. “But I don’t think it has to be like that.”

“How so?”

“What if choosing what’s best for me is what’s best for the Atrove?”

“That’s impossible.” He shut down the subject and rose from the ground. I rose with him and reached for his arm, sending a current down mine.

“What if we were on the same side?”

He looked down at me, and with me this close, it still amazed me how incredibly tall he was.

“What are you talking about, woman?”

“What if… I was part of the Atrove as well?”

A rumble of laughter ran through him. And then he stopped when he saw how serious I was.

“Women don’t belong in po⁠—”

“Don’t you dare say it, Ezra. You know that I’m just as capable as your own men. Don’t you?”

A silence fell in the cave. I couldn’t hear the fire crackling anymore, or the breath within me. I could feel Ezra holding his own as well.

His body tensed at that question, and he cleared his throat again.

A chilling sensation rose in my hand that touched his, and I snapped my hand from his arm. I took a step back.

“I can’t believe it.” I lashed out and turned on my heel, stomping away. I was about to reach the end of the tunnel before Ezra caught my waist and pulled me into his arms.

“Yes,” Ezra growled.