“I vow to protect you. My goddess. My queen. My mate,” he said, and my heart fluttered, his thumb brushing over mine as he continued. “Until the end of everything. Until the sun burns up and the moon crumbles to dust. I will always love you. I will always be at your side. I will always be yours.”
Something fell over me, embracing me in a way that it cut through my vision, and I awoke with a start. My eyes were leaden as I opened them, and I realized I’d fallen asleep reading Lucia’s book. I groaned as I pushed myself up from the pillows the astral sprites had laid out for me on the bench.
It was a dream... No. It was a memory. My heart fluttered in my chest as Damien’s words rippled through my mind.
Until the end of everything.
He’d said those words to me before, but I’d never known they were his vows. A smile spread across my face, and I wanted so badly to hold him, to kiss him, but he hadn’t yet arrived to pick me up.
How long had I been asleep?
I turned, realizing a blanket had been draped over me. Had the sprites done it? A heavy yawn escaped me, and I stretched. I froze as I caught sight of a white glow disappearing around a corner at the far end of the bookshelf.
I looked down at Lucia’s book, which lay open beside me. I’d found nothing, and I’d nearly gotten halfway through before I nodded off. I pushed the blanket off as I closed the book and set it on the table. What had I seen? What was here with me?
Goddamn feet.I winced as I lowered my feet onto the marble floor. They were already swollen again. I hated to make him worry more, but I needed to ask Damien to get me some compression socks. Damien had asked me to share the burden with him, and while I hated that he had to see me like this…
I needed him at my side through these final days.
My body protested as I pushed myself up from the bench. I was curious of what I’d seen disappear from my view. Every step was misery as I reached the end of the stretch of bookshelves to find—
I froze in place at the sight of Selene, her body reflecting a glow as pale and soft as the moon itself as she stepped through the entrance of the Archivallia. A pair of astral sprites skittered at her sides, holding her hands as they walked together, and I caught a glimpse of her face as she glanced down to one of them. She was… smiling, and it was so profoundly beautiful and sweet, it caused my heart to dance. I looked back, eyes finding the blanket that had been laid over me. Surely, she hadn’t been the one to put it there. I assumed it was the sprites.
My feet moved on their own as I followed her. I’d only seen her a handful of times since meeting Damien, and not once had I ever held any sort of conversation with the goddess. She’d been so intimidating the first time we met, and I’d honestly been a little afraid of her, but something seemed to be changing. I still had the letter she’d sent with Damien when she gifted me the silver gown, and I’d never spoken of it to him, but when Eris attacked me, what had pulled me back from that darkness... It had been a warm, guiding light that had reached out to me, a hand wrapped in kindness and love. Had that been her?
I leaned my head out the doorway of the Archivallia, searching for where she’d disappeared to.
“You’re in pain.”
I nearly leapt out of my skin at the sound of her voice, at the sight of those opalescent eyes meeting mine.
“Geez, you scared me!" I stiffened. “I mean, sorry. I—” Shit. Do I bow? What do I even say? Then, her words processed in my mind, and my gaze snapped back to her.
“Yes… I know.” Her words were soft, and I couldn’t read just what emotion her tone held, if any at all.
My lips parted, but once again, I was speechless. What exactly did she know, and how much? She’d known from the moment we first met about my heart condition, so I assumed she knew more than I’d have liked.
“I’m sorry…”
I blinked. “For what?”
“That I cannot stop this.”
I frowned. That wasn’t news. I’d known from our first meeting she wouldn’t interfere.
“Damien is upset with me,” she said, easing down onto the stone bench resting under the pale glow of the dimós tree beside us.
“Why?” I asked.
Her eyes lingered on the marble floor. “He blames me for it all.”
I couldn’t believe she was talking so openly with me. It was then that I noticed an exhaustion similar to my own reflected in those opalescent eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked, easing down to sit next to her.
Her white brows lifted, as if it were strange that I’d even asked, and her shoulders sagged a little. “I’m just a little tired.”
“I guess even gods and goddesses get tired from time to time,” I said with a light chuckle, masking my disbelief with humor. I lifted my gaze to the pale glowing branches stretching out overhead, their light dim and yet still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “I can only imagine how much magic it takes to maintain this place.”
