I watched the weight lift off Evander’s chest and felt it settle on mine.
I’d known what she would choose. But it was still wrong.
She reached me where I stood over the items of the Sacred Trinity, still on the ground where she’d dropped them. The jewels on the scabbards were dulled by the mist. Excalibur’s blade was buried six inches into the dirt. The golden chalice lay carelessly on its side. They did not seem special at all in the white mist. Justthings. Things that would take my mate from me.
Veyka nudged the sword with her toe. “Can you be any more descriptive about what it means to trade my soul for the ability to wield the Sacred Trinity?”
Morgyn le Fae stared at her sister. I resisted the compulsion to step back and give the two females space to speak privately. Ifthese were Veyka’s last moments, I was selfish enough to hold on to every single one of them.
“I have never wished you ill, Veyka,” Morgyn finally said. “If the ones who originally forged the Sacred Trinity knew the cost, they did not pass it down to us.”
Veyka nodded silently, as if she’d expected that answer.
“How?” Her voice was small and quiet.
“Don the sword and scabbards. Dip the cup into the water of the lake, and drink.”
A simple way to die.
Veyka leaned down to retrieve the scabbards, but I reached for them as well. I closed my hand around hers, drawing the belt to her waist. Together, we secured the straps. I checked her daggers for her. I lifted Excalibur from the ground and stepped up to her so our bodies were flush. She was so tall, so perfectly matched for me. The inches I had on her were just enough to allow me to slide the sword into place across her back.
Neither of us reached for the grail.
Veyka needed both her hands to hold my face. If she hadn’t, I’d have chucked the blasted chalice into the lake. But when she held me, I could not pull away.
“When you lost your memories, there were times that I thought it would have been better if you’d died. But I was wrong. Any piece of you, no matter how small… I was grateful for it. For you.”
She was asking me to love her, no matter what was left.You do not have to ask, Princess.
Without my soul, who am I?
I savored the warmth of her breath against my skin, the scrape of her thumb over the stubble on my jaw.
I spoke aloud, desperate for the sound of her voice. “Whoever you are, whatever you become, I will love you. This realm, anyother. Whether you live or die. You are mine, Veyka, and I am yours.”
Two tears slid down her cheeks, one from each eye. The right one amplified the darkness of the Talisman inked on her cheek. My beautiful, brave mate.
She leaned into me fully, pressing her lips to mine. A kiss that meant everything, and yet would never be enough. She dipped her tongue into my mouth, tasting and twirling. I let her have her way, trying to be what she needed.
Veyka needed me to let her go.
She broke away and I did not pull her back. More tears spilled down her cheeks. “I love you. And if even a fragment of my soul persists, here or in another realm entirely, it will always belong to you. For a thousand years.”
“And a thousand more.”
She stepped out of my embrace, picking up the chalice. The mist had cleared without me noticing. Her path to the edge of the lake was open. She dipped the cup, turning to look back one last time. One last burst of love, shining there in her eyes bright and clear.
Then she closed her eyes and drank.
For a few brief seconds, I thought that maybe her willingness to make the sacrifice would be enough. That it was a test. But then those seconds passed, and I was wrong.
At our Joining, when our blood mingled together, she’d exploded with light. Now, she became a phantom of darkness. The mist was gone completely. Overhead, the sun was nearly gone as well, twilight upon us. But the shadows… the darkness that marked the coming night… theymoved.
Shadows raced across the landscape. All of the darkness around us yielded itself up to her, entering her body through her eyes and nose and mouth. The force of them lifted her hair off ofher shoulders, swirling around her abdomen, wrapping around every limb.
Just as quickly as they’d come, the shadows disappeared. But not back from where they came. Veyka inhaled them like air, taking the darkness into her body.
She fell to her knees, knocked down by the force of power. A hand went to the ground to steady her.
