"Shall we go back?" Damian finally asked, his hand sliding up to cradle her neck, his touch soft yet possessive.
"But the promise..." Eilika started, her voice fading into the sound of the waves.
"It holds no value. Don't you understand yet?" Damian's eyes searched hers. "Sylvian sent word to the King. If you hadn't been able to bring that flower, the King would have forced the cure from August himself. Besides, the physician's calculations were wrong. I would not have died within hours."
He paused, his gaze darkening with the memory of his upbringing. "My body... I have a resistance. Since I was a boy, my father had me ingest small amounts of poison to build immunity. It ensures that any toxin takes far longer to claim me than a normal man. You made a choice based on a lie, Eilika. I was never going to leave you that easily."
