McKinley blinked a few times, trying to find the words, the courage to tell him. Her heart ached with so much love to this man yet his betrayal weighed it down, heavily. She dared not to move when he withdrew. She felt the warmth leave with him.

Her lower lips trembled slightly, giving away her internal war she was having. She had to tell him, to know for sure if what Vindrexis had told her was true. She cleared her throat softly, her eyes bore into his own.

“I love you.” She whispered softly. Her voice breaking slightly.

“I love you with every breath I have in me… I have learned things about myself, about us that I wish I could unlearn. I am not just human, I am a skaeth. I come from the shadows literally. There is darkness inside me.”

Joshua tried to move to comfort her but she held up a shaking hand to stop him. Her bright blue orbs brimming with tears, they shone like the sun of the sea. She chuckled softly, one that held no amusement or humor in it.

“I have met not one but two gods, two kenkus and a war that I am caught up in. One of the gods, a cruel godling he is. He told me something that I think I have known all along. Maybe he shared what he did to break me, so I would swear loyalty to him, I still don’t know..”

She paused, catching and unchecking her lower lip. Finally she blurted it out. “I know your faith in your goddess isn’t just spiritual, but emotional and physical.”

Her face broke, tears flowed down her cheeks. The trembling took hold of her like a raging storm against s boat. She tore her eyes from his as she glanced down at her bare feet.

“I can not compete with a goddess, in some eyes you have cheated and I wish I could hate you for it but I don’t.. I do wonder many things such as, was she the reason I was captured by some of your men and sentenced to drown in shark infested water.”

She looked at him then, his own face looked twisted with sadness. His silence was almost deafening. She could feel hope slowly slipping from her. She had hoped that he would admit his wrongs but also profess how he couldn’t lose McKinley. How he loved her so deeply.

She took a chance and glanced at him, all of him. His brows furrowed with sadness. His face set in stone with his expression. His lips looked of wine, oh how she wished she could taste it. The Y shape scar on his beautifully chiseled face stretched with tension. His large, strong and muscular body was tense.