"So that's it?" I whisper in a choked voice. "It's over."
"Aye, 'tis."
"But . . . I just found out you're not really betrothed." What a stupid thing to say. On the edge of the apocalypse and all I can think about is how much I really, really want a shot with the man before me?
His eyebrows go up. "What say you?"
"She told me, and her brother, that she's been bonded to the Desert Knight's son for a year."
"Desert Knight's son," he repeats. "I knew she was bonded . . ." A spark of something is in his eyes.
"What?" I ask instantly, my emotions careening from despair to hope.
He shakes his head.
"Please, please tell me you have an idea!" I plead, moving closer. I take his face and force him to look down at me. "Does it mean anything if I say I'll consider your offer to become your queen, if you do it?"
"Offer?" he repeats, offense in his tone. "A Knight does not offer." As he speaks, his hands settle on my hips. "There is no way to stop this, Naia. I would take you as my queen tonight only to lose you tomorrow."
"It's my fault, isn't it? If I'd believed you sooner, tried harder to help, prevented the-" My words are choked, barely audible.
"Nay." He draws me into his hard body. "'Tis not your duty to prevent my realm from dying. It is mine."
"It's why I'm here! And I failed. I always fail!" The tears are coming faster, the reality of my situation smashing down on me. I had a chance to make a difference, to help the amazing man before me - and failed. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry!"
"You once said the war and my betrothed were between us. 'Tis not the case now." He's mildly amused, his thumbs wiping away my tears.
I meet his gaze, every thought in my mind growing quiet at the intensity of his look. "Your last day on earth and you want sex." For some reason, it strikes me as funny, and I begin a painful combination of sobbing and laughing, hiccupping and coughing.
After the embarrassing episode, I wipe my face and look up at him once more.
The corner of his lips turned up in a smile. "I would like to spend my last night with my queen."
"I'm not your queen."
"Do you wish to be?"
I stare at him, every hormone inside me jumping and screaming, while my brain seems to completely stop working. "Is this because I'm the only girl around?" I ask suspiciously, unable to process the idea of belonging to this man, of him belonging to me, even for one night.