Burning for Love by Evangeline Anderson
42
James watched her go, feeling heartsick. At least, he thought that was the emotion he was experiencing. It was a tightness in his throat and a burning in his eyes coupled with the strong desire to punch something repeatedly.
He couldn’t forget the look in Ka’rissa’s eyes as she was led away or the soft feel of her lips pressed to his after the duel. Nor could he forget her words, “I love you!”
And I told her I loved her too, yet I’m standing here, watching her walk away, he thought. But what else could he do? Commander Sylvan had sent him here only to guard the Princess—not to fall in love with her or to let her fall in love with him. If he tried to act on their mutual love, it would very probably cause an incident that would reflect badly on the Kindred and even ruin relations between his people and the Regalians.
It was a conundrum James had never had to face before—a messy, emotional problem he should never have gotten into in the first place. And yet, how could he help himself? He had started having emotions for Ka’rissa so gradually he hadn’t even realized what was happening until he was already in the middle of the mess he currently found himself in.
That’s not true, a guilty little voice whispered in his head. You know that you were already having emotions before you left the Mother Ship. You know you should have gotten your emotion damper fixed before you came here in the first place. But no—you were having too much fun trying new foods and exotic new experiences. This is why the Collective outlawed emotions on Zeaga Four in the first place—they always lead to trouble!
No, there was nothing he could do to help Rissa except to stay and guard her until her wedding was over, James admitted to himself. But could he really stand by and watch her get Joined to another male?
He just didn’t know.
