Xaden looked at Erik. "Jasmine is someone of whom I am afraid. She scares me because even without my heart, my feelings tell me otherwise."
"Who said you could not be with her?" Erik asked. "I've fallen in love I would do anything to have her back. I carry the pain of what happened to her but never have I ever said I would rather have my heart taken away. The pain is what makes me alive. It makes me remember her, makes her alive in me. So much that there is barely any pain in here."
And then Erik pointed at his own chest. "I will not give up my memory of the life I lived for any other reason."
"She is a slave," Xaden said. "You know I could never. She is beneath me."
"But you married her, did you not?" Erik asked.
Xaden's face changed. "You know that I had to."
"Perhaps all of this happened for a reason," Erik said. "Every single step and action happened for a reason."