There was obviously no reasoning with her, he thought. But it was true that he’d never considered the possibility of her conceiving a child by him. What if she had? Trying to shake off such thoughts and their implications, he said, ‘Still, that doesn’t change the fact that we couldn’t keep seeing each other.’
She turned away, her empty, desolate look touching a foreboding feeling deep inside of him. ‘Why don’t you just tell me the truth? It was all right for me to risk everything, and I did. But you . . . you risked nothing. And you discarded me because someone might find out what a liar and a coward you really are; that you were too afraid and too ashamed of what your people might think if they saw us together.’
She was not being reasonable. He had to make her see that. Clearing his throat, he said, ‘Imalwain-’
But she was gone.
She fled, blindly, wishing only to put some distance between her pain and herself. She knew this was futile, but couldn’t bear being so close to what she so badly needed and couldn’t have. In a way, she couldn’t blame Birin for his prejudice. A Pixie’s heart is wild and free . . . how many times had she said those words herself? Said them, and believed them.