Unease settles in my gut.
My fingers fiddle with my pendant, grazing over the imperfections.
The girls left half an hour ago. Scarlett said she was only a phone call away. Aria had a graveyard shift at the hospital but promised to check in later.
Elias’s entourage had departed earlier too.
Even Sebastian, the strategic, perpetually apathetic lawyer, gave me a small smile and told me everything would be handled.
Ren called it a miracle to see him act remotely human.
Aleksei, the usually unhinged and talkative computer genius, was silent. He slipped away after saying he’d be in touch.
It’s well past midnight now. Sleep won’t come. My mind swirls, but mostly I’m worried abouthim.
My breath fogs the glass as I wait for Elias to come home. Perhaps the story of Hades and Persephone has infected me, because one thought keeps circling. Will I ever pull him into the light, or will the Shadow King always remain in the dark?
The air suddenly changes.
A charged stillness.
A heated presence.
He’s home.
I turn.
Elias stands near the doorway, tall in a dark coat, half-hidden by shadows. His green eyes catch the dim light. The scar twisting down his face looks sharper tonight, but it doesn’t frighten me. It never really did. It’s a mark of his strength—proof of the will it took to climb out of the flames and survive.
“Elias,” I whisper.
My feet move automatically, my dress fluttering around my ankles.
He pushes off the wall and prowls toward me, his steps measured, the gravity between us electric. But there’s a softness too, a smile laced with sorrow that tells me one thing.
Something is horribly wrong.
“My Lana Elise,” he murmurs, cupping my face. His thumb traces circles that make me shiver. “I was put on this earth to love you, and I’m the luckiest man to have done so.”
Beautiful words—toobeautiful. They should fill me with joy, but pain seeps through every vein instead.
“What are you saying?” I grip his shoulders. “What aren’t you telling me? Did you get answers?”
He shakes his head, the sad smile still haunting his face. “All the answers I’ve ever needed are standing right in front of me.”
He’s lying. I feel it in my bones.
“Let me love you, Lana,” he says quietly. “Let me worship you.”
He doesn’t wait for a reply. Instead, he curls his arm around my waist, pulling me against his heated flesh.
His mouth finds mine—ravenous and desperate. Yet, every second feels borrowed.
“My wife,” he rasps. “You’ve made all my dreams come true. For the longest time, I thought I was the walking dead. But you…”
Elias pulls back, his eyes intense. “You resurrected me, made me feel human again. Even if it wasn’t forever.”
“Elias, what’s—”
