Saving Verakko: The Clecanian Series Book 3 by Victoria Aveline (books to read for teens TXT) 📕

chest, and heat spread in her belly. She tried to work through the little he’d told her and came to a rotten conclusion. His mother would arrange his marriage. Verakko had said she was powerful. She’d pick a woman she respected and who she believed was worthy of her son. Why in the universe would she pick Lily? An alien who didn’t own a clean pair of clothes. Was she even eligible for a contract as a human?

“I see,” she whispered. Lily absently smoothed her stained, thin shirt. She wanted to argue, to explain how awful it was that he couldn’t choose who he wanted to be with, but if she’d learned anything from her travels with her parents, it was that a person’s culture and traditions should be respected, even if she didn’t agree with them.

She burned to ask more questions, but what was the point? She wasn’t interested in marriage anyway, and if that was all Verakko was looking for, they’d be doomed from the start.

This was probably for the best. Her life had become difficult enough as it was. Throwing a complicated forbidden love into the mix seemed like a bad idea.

Moving on, she told herself dully, an ache already seeping into her heart. It was dumb—she had only just met Verakko—but something about him, about them, made her think they could’ve had something spectacular. Knowing nothing could ever happen made her feel like she’d lost someone she’d never had in the first place.

She looked to Verakko and saw a pained expression that must have mirrored her own.

Her heart pinched. This is ridiculous! Two days. I’ve known him for two days! Get a hold of yourself.

“Ready to go?” she asked in a tone riddled with phony alacrity.

He nodded, then cleared his throat. “We need to travel through the woods today.”

“No, we can’t! Why?” she blurted. Guilt swamped her when she realized she was spending all of her mental energy grieving the death of a nonexistent relationship with a man she’d done nothing but argue with and not on finding Alex.

“The Strigi who dropped me…I managed to incapacitate him, but he could be recovered by now. If so, we need to stay undercover.”

“We can’t do that, Verakko.” Lily shook her head firmly. “I understand the risks, but we can’t see the river from here. I refuse to stop looking.”

“I refuse to allow you to be in danger.” Verakko crossed his arms over his chest and scowled.

Lily almost smiled at the familiar stance, a sense of normalcy returning to their relationship. She mirrored his stance. “I’m going to follow that river until I either find my friend or find a city. You can’t stop me.”

He raised a brow. “I could stop you.”

Lily narrowed her eyes. “I wouldn’t recommend trying.”

Verakko stared at her silently for a moment, tension radiating from every muscle.

He had every advantage. They both knew it. She might be able to do some damage to him if he tried to carry her off, but when push came to shove, she would tire long before he did, to say nothing of his sway. There was no chance of her winning a physical fight, so she played the only card she had left, hoping the lingering longing she’d seen in his eyes had been authentic.

“I’d never forgive you.”

Chapter 10

“Stay near the trees! We talked about this,” Verakko barked.

Lily frowned and sidled back toward the tree line. This female was going to send him to an early grave. He’d decided to let them hike along the river again today. Well, decided may be the wrong word. More like he’d surrendered at the mere idea she may never speak to him again.

Luckily, he’d convinced her to stay under reasonable cover at the edge of the forest while he walked in the open, searching for signs of Alex. For the last few hours, his attention had been so divided and his emotions in such upheaval, a Swadaeth child might’ve managed to sway him without trouble.

Search for Alex, watch out for the Strigi, make sure Lily stays safe, argue with Lily when she doesn’t stay safe, think about Lily, work through how to be with Lily, remember to search for Alex. And on and on the day went.

He should’ve kept his mouth shut this morning, should’ve allowed her to believe he was uninterested in her. But he couldn’t stand the idea. Instead, he’d omitted information and told a partial truth, surmountable to a full lie.

There’d been so many opportunities to push her away. He could’ve told her he was already under contract. That would’ve shut down all questions as to whether they could be together. Or he could’ve told her he was uninterested. Or that he wanted to be with her after his marriage to Ziritha was over, and would she kindly wait for him for an unknown period of time? If he understood Lily as well as he thought he did, she would’ve halted any budding relationship that may have formed then and there. But he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth. It would have meant permanently closing the door on the possibility of being with her, and, ashamedly, he was too selfish to do that. Not yet. Not before he’d thought through every possibility.

Crouching, he scooped up a bright blue item half buried in the sand of the river bed.

Lily rushed toward him.

Scanning the sky, he yelled, “It’s nothing but a rock. Go back.”

Shoulders slumped in defeat, she returned to the safety of the tree line. Verakko tossed the rock into the river and continued along the shore. Lily was loyal, annoyingly so. How might that translate into a relationship? From what he knew already, humans tended to prefer long-term monogamous relationships, but he had to take that knowledge with a grain of salt. For one thing, Jade and