Free Blood of Dawn by Tami Dane Page B

I’d better run this one by you.”
    I had no clue what he was talking about. “What ‘one’?”
    “Damen Sylver has formally proposed that you and he should court.”
    “‘Court’?”
    “To court is to date with the intention of marriage.”
    “Marriage? Um . . .” I wrung my hands. Court? Courtship? Marriage? I’d just broken an arranged engagement, and here I was staring at the possibility of diving into another? A lot of what-ifs flooded my mind. What if I decided Damen wasn’t the right one for me? How hard would it be to end this courtship? What if I started to like him, to love him, and he backed out? What if? . . . What if? . . . What if?
    “Tell me what you’re thinking,” my father said, clearly keying into my mixed emotions. A part of me was flattered that a man who seemed so great wanted to take our relationship to the next level. But it was so fast, and we barely knew each other.
    Maybe there was a reason why he was pushing toward a commitment so soon.
    If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
    “Why is he moving so fast? Why even think about marriage already?”
    “It may seem fast to you, but it isn’t. Not in the world of the elves. Arranged marriages are still very common. Many times a man meets his wife for the first time on the day of their wedding. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t see a wedding in your immediate future. When Her Majesty approached me with her concerns—”
    “She has concerns?”
    “It’s nothing personal. She has a great deal of respect and admiration for you, of course.”
    “Of course.” Yes, there was a touch of sarcasm there. It just sort of slipped out.
    My father paused for a few seconds, as if to give me a moment to gather myself. It wasn’t necessary. I had full control of my emotions. If I didn’t, he’d know it. “Sloan, maybe you don’t realize, but that man out there is the future king of the elves. Things don’t work the same with royalty as they do with an average FBI profiler.”
    “I’m not dating any FBI profiler, average or otherwise. But that’s beside the point. I realize Damen is the potential inheritor of a throne, but isn’t he down the line of succession? Like, way down the line?”
    “No. He’s at the top.”
    “What? Didn’t someone mention something about the fertility of the elves? Doesn’t he have like . . . I don’t know . . . dozens of siblings?”
    “He does. But they all relinquished their claim.”
    “Why?”
    My father leaned back in his chair. “Because there are certain requirements, expectations, responsibilities.”
    “In other words, none of them wanted it, so he’s stuck with it?”
    My father shrugged. “I guess you could say that. What matters is that you understand what you’re walking into here. And what will be expected of you.”
    If it wasn’t for the fact that Damen seemed to be a great man, honorable, responsible, charming, adorable, sexy—the list of adjectives could go on and on—I would’ve told my father to forget it and walked away. But I couldn’t. Because Damen was all those things, and so many more. I liked the way he made me feel. Not just physically, but also emotionally. I didn’t just feel smart. I felt pretty. And desirable.
    “What’s involved in this courtship thing?” I asked.
    “It’s pretty much just a fancy way of saying you’ll be appearing in public together, as a couple.”
    I thought about it for a moment or two. Was that so bad? Really, it wasn’t. In fact, maybe I was making too much out of this whole courtship thing. “Okay, I guess I can handle that. No commitment, right?”
    “None. But there is something else. You’ll have to be chaperoned. And there cannot be any physical intimacy beyond a kiss.”
    Considering how warm I became when Damen kissed me, that restraint could prove to be a challenge.
    “Chaperone?” I repeated. Then again, that was probably exactly what I needed.
    Immediately my mind went back to that night