“I need a minute alone with her.”
Tristen walks to the edge of his shadows. “One minute can change the course of the future,” he whispers his warning as he exits.
Titus cradles me in his chest. We’ve never been so close, so tightly knitted—like pages bound into a book. We could create such a beautiful story if we were born as different people. Instead, our book shall be short-lived, never given a happily ever after.
“You’re my mate,” Titus voices with a pride that has me sitting up, still cradled in his lap. My eyes peer at his hands; hands that killed my brother, hands that are trying too hard to save me.
“I felt the bond the moment we locked eyes,” I admit.“I thought the pull was my thirst for vengeance, but that quickly turned into a need for something else.”
“Why didn’t you say anything? Gods, Selene, you didn’t even react to the bond. I thought I was going mad.”
I bite down on my lip to stop it from trembling. “Some mate bonds are instantaneous, like a burst of energy. Others are seeds that must be planted and nourished. I tried not to water it; I tried to find the seed and uproot it. We can never be, Titus. I picked one thing to focus on—one thing to water and nourish—which was helping you, not loving you. We have a mission, Titus.”
The leather covering his biceps flexes like an animal that instinctively jerks back from a deadly blow.
“I never said we didn’t, but we’re also mates.” His fingers press into me. If there were ever a claiming hold, this would be it. “If we suppress love, then what is the point of saving our world? I know you want the world to think you’re cold, but you forget that hidden underneath all the frozen layers can lie a volcano. Show me your fire. Stop worrying about burning me; I know how to control the flames or fan them.”
My exhale sounds like a bruised laugh. “Our flame is on the verge of being extinguished. I’m suppressing them to save them, to save us, Titus. The world is crumbling.” I grab his biceps andshake him. “Galen and Sable are winning. I don’t know if that’s how Everett intended it to play out. I don’t know anything. I am merely a spectator watching a game that will affect me.
“I am rooting for players who carry my future on their backs. I have no choices or options because they have been made for me deceptively, just as Everett planned.”
Titus’s eyes darken, but my next words offer no light.
“I wish my brother sent you here to steal me away, so we could live happily ever after. Everett was selfless. His interests didn’t bend so true love could bloom. We are trapped like dead bones long buried in the sands of time. Layers and layers of Everett’s decisions continue to bear down upon us, like slabs of this forsaken land, shoving and trapping us deeper and deeper. We’re nothing but creatures meant to play a specific role, so the future can evolve. Maybe one day someone will find our bones, uncover our story, and retell it.”
Titus and I are cornerstones; we hold up everything.
If we remove ourselves and run away, then everything around us will crumble.
“A love like ours is worth fighting for,” he confesses. He’s never backing down. Titus is the type of man who runs into battle, chin high, sword outstretched, feet proud, spine stiff, ready to rebuke the impact; he fears not death but life without purpose.
I press my fingers over his mouth. “In my world, love is an hourglass. Eventually, the sand will hit the bottom.”
“Hourglasses can be turned back over. It can start again.” He takes my hand and presses his lips to my palm. My thighs clench as my body purrs. The mating mark will appear in a matter of days or hours. It should be a thing of beauty, like a child. Something you protect and stand in awe of.
But this is life, and the world corrupts children; it takes something beautiful and precious and molds it into a shell of cruelty, a vessel into which it pours more ugly lies.
A mating mark would be a sure sign of Titus’s death.
“This will all end.” Titus’s smile grows like the petals of a flower growing in a thunderstorm.
Does he know hail is about to batter him?
He continues, “I have so many answers to tell you. One day, I will turn our hourglass over, and we will start a new one. We will be free to love each other.” He pulls me closer and then forces my chin up. “Let me kiss you.”
My eyes drop to his lips. How badly I long to taste them, to have them touch my skin, kissing away all the invisible scars no one sees.
I shake my head. “How will we hide the mate mark?” They appear over each other’s hearts. “I am married.”
“You are not married. You are chained to a man who cheats and seeks to kill everything you love. Our bond is the key that unlocks you. Once the people see the mark, you’ll be free of Galen. The laws permit it.”
“You know he is a king who yields to no laws.” I feel the blood drain from my cheeks as realization settles into my core. “It makes sense. Everett said you should be king, and now I know what he meant. He intended for you to kill Galen.”
How do we kill a king and then unite the people so they trust us? How do we bring runes back into this world and have the strength to keep them safe from my twin?
How?
“I’ll do what I must protect my mate. Hey,” His hand slips behind my neck as he guides my face closer. “Right now, you’re looking at a field that is covered in weeds. It’s hard to envision where a garden will grow; we have to take it one patch at a time. One problem at a time. Tristen is correct. We will sort everythingout, and then lastly we will tackle this bond and Galen. Because I know what a mate bond means.” He grins widely as he runs his nose along my jaw. “It means I have forever with you, so if I have to wait to kiss you, to make love to you, that’s okay because, in the end, I will have you. Forever.”
