“Not good. Bad, actually. It's been bad.”
Leave it to his female to just tell it like it was. “Were you able to think about things?”About uswas the unspoken sentiment.
Cyn nodded. A small smile graced her beautiful lips as she looked up at him. “I took a trip down memory lane. I shared our story with Peri and Alina.”
“Our story?” Thalion’s brow drew together.
She nodded. “How we met and how you kept trying to hit on me and I kept shooting you down.” Cyn laughed when Thalion dropped one hand to poke her in the side.
“It’s not nice to tell lies.” Thalion huffed.
“It was good to remember, to have all of those feelings being stirred up inside of me.” She tilted her head as her lips pursed. “It helped me see how we’ve always been meant for each other.”
Thalion felt his heart drop to his feet. His stomach rolled and his lungs closed. Had he heard her right? Was she saying what he thought she was saying?
“I might need you to spell it out for me, beautiful,” Thalion told her.
She smiled at him, and the adoration that was reflected in her eyes nearly drove him to his knees.
“I’m ready to give you all of me,” Cyn said, her voice tight with emotion. Her chin dropped, her eyes drifting to the ground.
Thalion placed his finger under her chin and lifted her head. “Don’t be embarrassed. Never be embarrassed to show me how you feel. I will not cease to show you how I feel about you.”
“How do you feel about me?” she asked him.
Thalion stepped closer to her, if that was even possible. His eyes held hers, and he hoped that she could see the sincerity that he felt. “You are my breath, Cyn…the food that nourishes me. You are the light that keeps the darkness at bay, the water that quenches my thirst. Without you, I am a withered husk, deteriorating under the heat of the sun. Cyn, beloved of mine, you have my heart, mind, body, and soul. They are yours and will be until the end of time.”
Cyn’s heart felt as though it would burst from all of the love filling it. This man was willing to accept every part of her—good and bad. He’d crept slowly into her heart and gently pushed down the walls she hadn’t even realized she’d erected.
She had honestly never expected to have such a love. Cyn had accepted that she would only have the satisfaction of destroying evil and protecting those who couldn’t fight for themselves. And she’d thought that was enough—until she met Thalion. But now, after knowing what it was like to feel the unconditional love of another, she couldn’t give it up. She couldn’t walk away.
“I don’t see what it is you see in me.” She held up her hand to stop him from arguing. “I’m not putting myself down. What I mean is … I’m a warrior. I am not like the elegant women of your court. I have rough edges—veryrough edges. And I have only you to thank for any of those edges that have been smoothed. You have opened my eyes to a side of me I didn’t know existed. I don’t want to lose that—that feeling I get when you look me. I cannot wander this earth for endless centuries without you.”
“You won’t have to,” Thalion assured her. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. It was a kiss that sealed the promise he’d just made her. They didn’t know what the future held. With so much darkness filling the human realm, and more enemies rising as soon as others fell, it did not look promising. But whatever it held, they would face it together. She could lean on him in her times of weakness, and he could turn to her when he needed reassurance that he was doing the right thing. Together, they would stand with those who had decided that darkness and evil could not have any of their realms.
Thalion stared into her eyes, and Cyn felt as though he was making an unspoken promise to always protect her, always provide for her, and always choose her, no matter the cost.
“I love you,” he whispered against her lips. “One day, in the very near future, you will become my wife. I will spend the rest of my existence doing my best to be a servant leader worthy of your affection, friendship, and love.”
She knew without a doubt, though it took her a while to figure it out, that Thalion was meant for her and she for him. Cyn anticipated dark days ahead. She could feel the storm coming. They would be faced with horrors no one should have to endure. But they would not face it alone. They would stand together and fight, with each other and with the other supernaturals who refused to give in to evil. They would prevail…or die trying.
Epilogue
“I give advice, and yet I am wary to follow the words I preach. I long to see those I care about healthy, safe, and happy, yet I deny myself those very things.” ~Perizada
“I feel a malice in the air I haven’t felt before,” Peri told Vasile and Alina as she stood in his office staring out into the forest.
“Darkness will never be fully gone, Peri,” Vasile stated.
“If you’re trying to be encouraging, your attempt is an epic fail,” Peri chided.
“I am simply stating the facts.”
“Do you have any idea where your sister could have gone?” Alina brought up the topic that Peri knew needed to be addressed, yet she couldn’t bring herself to focus on it. Deep down inside, Peri was very hurt by all that her sister had done, but she couldn’t say she was surprised.
“I haven’t thought about it, but I’m sure once I do I will be able to come up with some ideas. She won’t stay hidden for long, even if I do not know where to begin,” she explained. “She craves attention too much to stay in the shadows.”
“That will be her downfall.”
