Eclis ordered for the both of us. In Tyrra the men always ordered for all the women at a table, it was taboo for the women to even speak to the server, so they never made eye contact with them either. The practice irked me, but Eclis had great taste in food, and I liked everything he ordered. I don’t love him though. That’s definitely not the reason.

“Do you mind if I ask you more questions about your situation Jazz?” Despite myself, his voice still pulled at my heartstrings. I also found it impossible for me to correct his use of my nickname. Every time I tried the words wouldn’t come out. My mouth wouldn’t even move. I closed my eyes and sighed internally. Him using my nickname was just another crack in the wall I kept between us. That wall was the only protection I had between us. While I wasn’t in love with him, I really was infatuated with his character. Remember, he’s going to fall for Julia. Look, but don’t touch.

“Sure, why not. I have no where else to be.” I smiled bitterly, looking out the window instead of at him. It was already too late to try and hide the fact that I wasn’t from here so to hell with caution.

“How many days has it been since you’ve been in this world?” At least the sound of his voice was back to normal. Heavenly and sultry rather than sharp and cold.

“Um… At least a day before I met you. I don’t know exactly how much time has passed since then.”

“Its been four days since then.” Four? I thought it was two. Out of the corner of my eye I could tell he was nodding and thinking. I resisted the urge to drink in his thoughtful face again. “Then, what is the last thing you remember doing in your world?” He was studying me now.

“The last thing I remember was being at home, upset about something. I drank a little but not enough to kill me. Fairly sure after that that I went to sleep.”

“What upset you?” The softness in his voice took me off guard and I unconsciously met his gaze.

“I’m not telling you.” Because I’d been caught off guard my voice wasn’t perfectly calm like I’d normally keep it. There was an unmistakable edge too it. He just smiled and held his hand up in surrender.

“Then I won’t press you.” I knew he wouldn’t apologize for forcing those answers out of me earlier. For him, he was just doing what he should to protect himself. I knew that. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t allowed to be mad about it. For a moment, I thought I caught regret in his eyes, but that was just wishful thinking. “Did you see the market earlier? I found you not far from it.”

“I did. In my world magic doesn’t exist. Neither does vampires or anything else for that matter. There’s just humans and animals so it was fun to see the things written about this world here.” On the topic of the market, I couldn’t help but smile. It was a treat to experience. “But I’m curious.”

“Ask me anything.” His eyes flashed and he was too quick to respond. My guard went back up.

“I’d expect most people would be a bit… Doubtful of the idea of people from other worlds travelling here. Especially if they were told they’re just a character in a book.”

“Perhaps in your world where there is no such thing as magic or miracles that would be the case.” He smiled, “But I’ve lived for over two thousand years, and a person cannot lie while under my control. Of course I’d believe you.” His answer made sense. Only one thing irked me.

“I really don’t love you. I don’t know why I said that.” My heart began to race again, and my face was on the verge of flushing. He just kept smiling at me knowingly.

We were interrupted by the waiter bringing our food. There were several things I recognized, Steamed mussels, lobster tails, even butterfly fried shrimp! There were also shellfish I didn’t recognize, and a cracked open urchin I’d seen earlier at the fish market. Wasn’t it an aphrodisiac though? I decided to pointedly avoid the urchin at all costs.

Seeing so many of my favourite seafood dishes I didn’t even try to pretend not to enjoy myself. If there were such things as a key to one’s heart, mine would be food. Eclis also looked like he was savouring the food, especially the shellfish I didn’t recognize. In this world vampires could eat for pleasure. They just didn’t get anything else out of it. His eyes caught mine and I realized I had been staring at him. Oops.

“This is a kind of oyster that relieves fatigue. Try it.” He picked up a colourful shell passing it to me. The oyster inside looked normal enough but shell it was housed in was a thing of beauty. Since I had already been watching him eat them, I copied the same toppings he’d used to flavour it. It was delicious and there was no stopping the smile it brought. “So you like shellfish then.” It wasn’t posed as a question, but I answered anyways.

“Yep, I grew up near the ocean, so I ate a lot of it back then.” Seafood was my comfort food.

“My palace isn’t near an ocean, but I’ve yet to build a summer one.” I have a bad feeling about where this was going. “The oceans in Ganimede are rich and full of even more exotic delicacies.”

“That’s really cool. I’ll be sure to check it out.” Surely he doesn’t…

“You’ll have lots of time too, since you’ll be living there.” Somehow, I managed to keep my face schooled. Only a single flinch got past me.

“I-Is that so?” He nodded, looking a lot more like a predator cornering his prey again. Right. Let’s nip this one in the bud. My eyes searched the room for the right words. “Duke… I won’t be coming with you once we reach Ganimede.” My plan was to leave this god forsaken continent at the very least. Ganimede held all the adventure I could ever hope to want and then some whereas Tyrra was too similar to our world. Following Eclis any further than that only brought more risk that I’d get in the way of his and Julia’s love story and more importantly, that I’d get too attached.

“Is that so?”

“Yep.” My voice was bright. This wasn’t as hard as I thought.

“Then where will you go?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”

“Then have you thought about how you’ll convince me to just let you go?” Ah. No. I hadn’t.