I love you,I tell him firmly.That will never change. Trust in us.
Clem lets out a small noise, and Aran sucks in a breath as Roshan’s chest rises once and then twice. His fingers twitch and his eyelids flutter. With a gasping inhale, he sits upright, eyes flying open and instantly finding me: brown with golden sunbursts at their centers, gleaming with life and Saru’s otherworldly light. Brown and alive and full of so much love, my chest aches. There he is.
Gods...
Something inside of me—that aching hollow—yearns for completion.
I feel the moment when Darrius vanishes into a flurry of shadows, not because he wants to leave but because the curse is kicking in and he still has a kingdom to protect.
Dare, wait.
I need to run and clear my head.
Are you all right?I ask. I feel his torment through the bond.
I will always trust you, Starbright.
Chapter Thirty-Four
THENIGHTKING
Ours,the soul bond screams.
She is our sun—ourstar—our reason for living. Our happiness is her happiness.
And if that includes another, she is stilloursto adore.
By the blood, I have never felt anything like this, my body struggling between killing every single soul that looks at my mate and destroying the world to give her everything she desires. And I know she still wants the Oryndhrian king. Stillloveshim. I can feel it through the bond, and the thought of losing her decimates me.
It’s my greatest fear come to life.
I shift, unable to control my emotions.
As the manticore, we run and run andrun. We run until our muscles are shivering and we’re so exhausted that thinking is impossible. And then we sleep and do it all again. Run, hunt, sleep. Life exists simply by instinct.
When I eventually shift back and return to the palace, I recall the feel of her soul calling out to his, and his to hers. And now that he has the light of Saru burning inside of him like a living, divine flame, there’s something there. Abond. It’s frayed and worn and threadbare, but I can see it tethering them to each other. Not a soul-fated union, but a union nonetheless.
All it needs is a little care.
“I can destroy it,” I whisper to myself.
“But will you?” a soft voice asks.
I turn to find Ve standing in my study, face wreathed in compassion, and I can’t find it in myself to send them away with my usual rancor. “No. I could never hurt her.”
“Even if she chooses someone else?” they prod.
I sigh. “Even so.”
“Love makes space for everyone,” Ve says sagely. “She won’t love you less because she also loves another. You’re a deity, you know this. You’ve seen all the wondrous shapes of the phenomenon of love in dozens of lifetimes.”
They’re not wrong. Idoknow this. Love is infinite, perfectly imperfect, and layered in its complexity. It might bring hardship and take sacrifice or work, but it never dies if nurtured. It endures through any storm. Love only fails if you give up on it.
“I saw that this path was written in her future,” Ve remarks. “But I could not see how it would come together. I suppose that’s up to you now.”
I shake my head. “It will always be up to her.Herchoice. If she chooses him, it doesn’t change that my choice will forever be her in whatever capacity she will accept me.”
“And him?” the guardian of the Royal Stars asks, white eyes glittering like a nebula.
