She had expected his temper, his arrogance, anything but this quiet, disarming gentleness. The way he touched her now wasn’t possessive but careful, as if she were something precious he was afraid to break.
“Once Nexus found you, it was a sign that you had magic waiting to be awakened. So helped you with that.”
“Absurd,” she frowned. “I could have killed you.”
“Yes, you nearly did.” A sly smile tugged at his lips. “I will have you know, the sign a god has found his bride is when she attempts to take his life.”
Alora rolled her eyes, managing a weak laugh. Of course he would make light of this. But her smile faded as it all bore down on her.
A breeze drifted into the room from the open balcony. She went out onto the terrace, looking at the kingdom in the far distance below. He came to stand beside her.
“Rune… I’m scared,” Alora admitted softly. “I don’t know what I am, but I need answers. I won’t find them here.”
Rune went still.
Moonlight gleamed over his face, carving out the tension in his jaw, the shadows beneath his eyes. His expression didn’t harden as it usually did when cornered, but a thousand thoughts wared behind his gaze.
“You wish to leave,” he said at last, the words low.
She closed her eyes, thinking of the lark hairpin.
“There must be a reason I was sent to live in the Midlands. I need to return to find out why.” Alora looked out to the dark patch of land coated in mist. “What if I am something terrible?Something wicked and dark that should have always been kept hidden?”
Rune’s expression softened.
He rose on a bed of shadows that rippled beneath his boots like living silk and extended his hand to her. “Take my hand, little bird. Let me show you how beautiful the dark can be.”
For a moment, she hesitated.
The night outside was endless, waiting to swallow her whole. But those unholy crimson eyes held no malice now, but something patient, inviting. Against her better sense, Alora reached out. His hand closed around hers, cool and steady, and the floor fell away.
The shadows lifted them, gliding into the open air. The wind rushed past, tugging her hair free, and the mountain unfurled below. And she saw the onyx castle embedded within the jagged sea of black peaks crowned with mist. Rune’s magic carried them higher still until the fortress was nothing but a spark of light in an ocean of night.
She gasped when the first shimmer appeared above them. A veil of pale green and violet lights rippling across the Heavens like silk. The aurora swayed in quiet dance, soft against the black sky, and for the first time since arriving, Alora’s heart relaxed.
The shadows surrounding them softened into translucent wings. Their silhouettes soared against the clouds, vast and graceful, each beat sending tremors through the air. Rune’s hand still held hers, but his gaze was on her. The light of the aurora reflected in his eyes, and for a heartbeat, he looked less like a god and more like a being who had surfaced from the stars.
“This is what you fear?” he murmured. “The dark is not evil, Alora. It’s the absence of light, but it’s also a place where the broken can hide. Where the lost can rest.”
Her chest ached at the gentleness in his voice.
The world below glimmered faintly and Argyle surfaced from the fog, sleeping beneath the clouds. The sight pulled her from the spell of the sky. Her people still needed her, but she had been only worried about herself.
Rune must have sensed the shift.
Without a word, he guided them down again, shadows curling close as they descended toward his balcony. The lights faded from view, leaving the hush of wind and the faint hum of magic between them.
When their feet touched the stone, he released her hand. “Thank you,” she whispered, glancing up at the stars. “It was beautiful.”
His eyes lingered on her. “Yes, it was.”
Something in her chest shifted, traitorous and warm, but such a thing was dangerous. If she let herself trust him, she feared then he truly would own her soul.
And she could not forget what was important.
Alora reached for him before she could think better of it, her fingers brushing against his hand on her cheek. “Please,” she whispered. “Let me go.”
Rune’s hand stilled beneath hers, his gaze lowering. “If you do find answers, what then?”
