Karrie blinked and sat up. She was a little stiff though they hadn’t been very long. Having met Lizzy, Karrie now understood what interested Damien about the demon sprit. The whole experience had seemed so real. And when she’d stroked Karrie’s cheek. She shivered. Down that path lay nothing good.

Damien sat up beside her. When he looked at her she saw something new in his eyes, sadness maybe. What brought that on?

“So what did you think of her?” Damien asked.

“Stunning is the first word that comes to mind. It’s like someone took every feminine quality, combined them, and amplified them by ten. I suspect if you surveyed every man in the kingdom and turned the results into a person she’d look like Lizzy.”

“I suspect you’re right. You should have seen the look on your face when she touched your cheek. That alone made the visit worthwhile.”

Karrie touched her cheek. “It felt real.”

“It was real. Out here everything you experience is filtered through your five senses to your brain. In her world the senses are bypassed and your mind is stimulated directly. In a lot of ways it’s a more intense experience. Sometimes when I return after a visit, the real world feels sort of flat and washed out. I think that’s why she doesn’t want me to spend too much time with her.”

“I meant what I said, about sharing you. I doubt you’ll get a better offer.”

“This isn’t an auction, and I’m not for sale.” Damien sighed and swung his legs off the bed. “Are you really that scared of marrying one of the nobles’ sons?”

“Scared? Who said I was scared?” Her denial didn’t even sound believable in her own ears.

“Lizzy. She can read the minds of anyone in her psychic range and if you enter her world your thoughts are an open book. She said you may have mixed up loving me with fearing them.”

Karrie hopped off the bed and stalked around the little room. She spun to face Damien. “My feelings for you are real. I won’t deny being with you would solve my other problems, but that’s a bonus. There are a lot of things I’d like from you, but one thing I won’t accept is your pity.”

He smiled a sort of sad half-smile. “Fair enough. Do you want me to walk you to your room?”

Damien rolled off the bed and they walked to the door of his room. He opened it and she turned toward him. “Think about what I said. We’d be good together, I know it. I think Lizzy agrees with me. Daddy wants you to come to dinner tomorrow.”

“I—”

She pressed her finger to his lips. “Don’t say anything now. Think about it. We’ll talk again after dinner.”