He didn’t back down. He didn’t flinch. Just stayed there, steady as cliffs in a storm as she broke down, heaving sobstearing themselves from her lungs. It could have been hours, days, weeks she was like that, pouring out her soul in wails and diamond teardrops.
By the time she settled, the front of his tunic was damp and clutched so tightly in her grasp it was a wonder she hadn’t shredded the thing.
“Why won’t you let me save you?”
Brand peeled her exhausted body away and scooped her up without warning. He carried her to the main room—to the massive, canopied bed—and nestled her against the headboard. The smell of salty pine resin and his intangible warmth rose up from the downy mass and engulfed her, testing her resolve.
He stepped back, a muscle ticking in his jaw when his eyes darted towards the balcony, and all she could think was that the loss of his touch only served to emphasize how miserable the rest of her life was going to be.
Brand nodded finally, as if to himself, and climbed in to kneel in front of her. He reached out and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his chest. “This heart is yours, remember? I’ve given it to you so many times, I’ve lost count. I’ll be giving it to you every day until I pass into the Veil and, even then, I’ll still be trying.”
A tear slipped over his cheek, glittering as it fell to the silken sheets. He pressed his other hand over her heart, the treacherous organ pumping an erratic rhythm as his heat seeped into her.
“And this, I took for myself,” he rasped. “I took it and I filled it with my every wish, prayer, and dream, and now… Everything I haveeverwanted is beating here before me—a beautiful heart that I’ve gilded with my own future and entrusted to you.” His fingers dug into her flesh ever so slightly, possessively. “If you run because you’re still afraid, know that I will follow. To the edges of this world and beyond, Lunara. I will chase you. I will go to battle and fight with you. I will fall to my knees and beg you.I will do anything, except lay down and let you leave. Not when I know you’re only doing it because you think you’re protecting me. No one is allowed to steal away my greatest treasure—not even the female herself.”
Never before had Lunara felt so wrecked, so ravaged. Every emotion pushed and pulled at her, clawing at her determination and tugging her in too many directions to count.
You have to fight it. You have to go.
“Brand—”
“No,” he breathed just before his mouth landed on hers, the gentle kiss silencing her and over too soon. “No, I am yours and you are mine. I protect what’s mine, Lunara, and Iwillprotect you—from the Council, from Illamiata. I’ll even protect you from yourself.” He dropped their hands and slipped his fingers into her hair. “I swear to you, I will not let you fall into the darkness you fear. I will always be there to remind you that youareall that is lovely and blessed in this world. Everything that is good. You are.” He closed the almost nonexistent distance between them and kissed her again, then whispered once more against her lips, “You are.”
Then his mouth devoured hers, frantic and frenzied, so unlike the two before. She didn’t know whether to pull him closer or push him away—what she wanted for herself and what she needed to do instead so at war that she hardly knew how to untangle the mess of it.
Drawing on her courage, on all she felt for him, Lunara ignored the heart that wasn’t even hers anymore as it shattered to the floor.
She allowed herself one last rake through his auburn waves. One more nip of his full lips and brush of his tongue. A final shared breath.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t—”
Her power was gentle, as in love with Brand as she was. He slipped easily into sleep, tumbling over next to her and onto the down mattress.
The sight of him blurred, like the fresh wash of tears was trying to steal it away to save her from the torment.
He seemed so much younger, dark eyelashes fanning against his cheeks, not a worry in the world to crease that intense brow or twist his mouth. His long hair was a gorgeous, fiery mess, tangled around his horns and caught in his beard like rivers of molten earth.
That this would be the last she saw of him was a balm on her spirit, in a way. A soothing touch against a soul that had been clenching and cracking for decades, until it had finally known a little healing because of the creature lying so peacefully before her.
“I love you,” she whispered into the relative silence, wishing to test the words at least once—to feel the taste of them on her tongue, the rightness—before she left him forever. “Goodbye, Brand.”
As if to confirm the wisdom of her decision by giving her the means, a dark and familiar power drew closer, brushing up against her own like a long lost friend.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude, but I had to be sure he was well.”
Lunara looked across the room, the youngest Imperial Son’s severe countenance staring back. He was hardly more than a shadow himself in his black armor. Only his skin gave him away, flickering as hers did in the evenings.
“How much did you hear?”
Araxis took another tentative step, his sigh heavy. “All of it. I was ready to catch you from your fall if Brand didn’t.”
“And ready to rescue him, too, I’d wager.”
“Always.”
Lunara huffed, starting to go numb as it sank in. She couldn’t resist trailing her fingers over Brand’s as she stood, knowing she probably wouldn’t feel anything again for a very long time.
