Irefused to let Sable speak. Nothing good would spew forth from her dying lips. I understand better than most the power a fae wields in their final moments. I watch her burning body, the flesh curling like paper, charring, ripping, revealing muscles, tendons, and finally bone.
Soft shields, that’s all we are in the end, yet we can cause so much damage.
Sable almost won. The minute she touched that sword, a knot formed in my gut.Hector—the last hidden pawn Everett played—prevented her from winning.
Many questions need to be answered. Now we have time to solve them. To understand the runes, keep them safe and secure.
“I’ll show the world love,” I declare.
The smile Sable painted on her dying lips doesn’t fade. It’s a candle wick that carries the fire, rather than allowing it to consume her. It remains until it hits bottom, her skin slides off, and falls into the fire below.
Tristen, Ryker, Adrian… I did it!
Tristen? Shit, he’d better be okay!
Cyrus, Nero, Ember… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you my mission, but I did it! We can celebrate as a family!
Turning, I see the Vitalis, covered in flames, but it’s immortal to my fire. Reaching down, I grab it and the sword. The minute I lift the blade, a power surges through me. I feel invincible, energetic, deadlier.I’mthe sword, refined, forged, altered. This is what Sable felt, how she pulled the blade free. If Hector hadn’t betrayed her, she would have slain us all.
I’m tempted to drop the blade. Is this what I need to keep the book safe?
This mission Everett forced upon me was like falling into a cactus. At first, your wounds don’t look bad, you pull yourself up. But up close, deep within your flesh, there are a million thorns. One step at a time, I have removed them. Made the world safer for my mate.
So many lives were forced to merge so I could get this book, so the future has hope and light, not darkness.
I step through the fire, spotting my mate. “We did it, Selene,” I laugh. That sound hasn’t emerged from my chest in so long.
I want to make it again as I hold her, as I build a home with her, and start a family. I want to savor her, protect her, cherish her. I want to fight at her side. I want to be a ruler worthy of a queen like her.
The world feels warm for the first time in so long. When we exit this tunnel, will the sun refresh me as others say it does?
Again, I close my eyes and breathe out. We did it. I know there are battles ahead, but shit, I want to jump, climb a mountain, and scream my victory at the top. I want to lay my mate down on that mountain’s edge and make love to her, under the sky that still twinkles because we’re still alive, as is our world.
My eyes snap open. Selene sways, eyes filled with tears. Her silk clothing is torn and dirty, like my motivation was before I first laid eyes on her. Her complexion is pale, as shallow as our success was. I silence my flames, hoping it brings some life back into her beautiful face.
Oh shit! My fire. I shouldn’t have let the fire burn so hot. I just lost control. Fire… I burned her twin! I burned a fae and desecrated their body.
Selene’s eyes lower to my feet. Slowly, they rise, measuring every inch of me, as if it’s the first time she’s spotted me. I expect outrage and disgust. But her lips twist when she looks at our mating mark. It tugs and pulls me… but not in the way I hoped for. It’s filled with sorrow, and something deeper I can’t decipher yet, because… she’s blocking me.
Shit! I know she hated her twin, but she just lost another member of her family, and then I burned the body. That has to affect a person.
I step closer.It’s okay. I’m here. I’m going to keep us safe.I know we still have foes to face, but for just one moment, I want to celebrate.
I raise the sword and the book. I started this journey to save myself; I ended it to save Selene.
“Selene,”I’m sorry I lost control.
She sways forward, like jello poured too early from its mold.
“Selene!” She’s falling, slipping from my eyes, the ground pulls her lower and lower. I empty my hands, diving forward to catch her. “Selene!” I land on my knees, cradling her to my chest. Her sad eyes look to where Sable burns. A sick feeling tethers me to it, and then she stops blocking her emotions from me.
“I’m sorry,” she chokes. Instead of her shock over my actions, or love for me, I feel… a departure. Distance. Things she kept hidden.
“Selene! I…what’s happening?” I force her eyes to mine and look at her mate mark. I cover my palm with it. Why does it feel faint? She’s in my arms! I’m holding her!
“I don’t understand.” I declare in sheer panic.
I hold her tighter, but it’s like grasping clothing on a hanger. I want to slip those pieces on and claim them as mine!
