But Heaven won.
Choking back a sob, unable to face anyone, she sprinted between the snow-covered shrubs toward the looming forest. Those few minutes with him made her pray so fucking hard he would’ve chosen her…
Nia finally halted somewhere in the dense forest, concealed by complete darkness, and wrapped her arms around her waist, a bone-freezing chill settling inside her. Even the moonlight abandoned her. She had no idea where she was. Didn’t care as she slumped down against a tree trunk. Shutting her tear-drenched eyes, she drew her feet up and buried her wet face in her knees…
“Nia!”
Her name cracked through her fog of anguish, and she lifted her heavy head. She had no idea how much time had passed, but she was chilled to the bone and could barely feel her limbs. And her head hurt.
Echo appeared in front of her like a ghost.
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. When you didn’t return, and I couldn’t find you, I grew worried. So, I used this to locate you.” She flashed up her hand, revealing the rune on her palm, the glow fading. “I just thought about you, touched this, and here I am. Usually, I need something belonging to the other person—never mind.” She removed a wad of tissues from her jacket pocket and handed it to Nia. “I guess it didn’t go well with Lore,” she said softly, crouching next to her. “I’m so sorry.”
Nia wiped her still runny nose and damp face. “There was nothing I could say. He…he said goodbye.”
Her face softened with sympathy. “Come, let’s get out of here?—”
“No. I can’t go to the castle, not like this.”
Echo shoved back her overlong bangs, eyes troubled. Then they brightened. “Of course!” She fumbled out her cell phone from her jeans pocket, typed something, and hit send. “This will definitely perk you up.”
Nia didn’t think so, not with devastation consuming her.
Why, why couldn’t you love me, even a little?
Cell back in her pocket, Echo shot to her feet. “C’mon.”
All she wanted to do was curl into a ball. Inhaling a shuddering breath, she pushed up, her cramped muscles protesting the movement.
Echo hooked an arm around hers, a spark to eyes. “Maybe we should dematerialize there. It’s quite a distance, and I’m too impatient. Man, you’ll love this surprise, I swear.”
Nia barely heard her, moving on autopilot, her world reduced to the crunch of snow beneath her feet and the agony in her chest. For the first time in her lonely life, she dared to open her heart, only for it to be crushed and left in pieces.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Lore reappearedin the snake-infested forest in the Himalayas, anger blazing through him like a living entity in the dark hours of the morning.
The torment in Nia’s eyes, believing he didn’t care enough to choose her, to fight to be with her…that she wasn’t important enough to him to be his priority, clawed at him.
The only pain he’d ever experienced had been physical, usually from wounds. Those healed fast, but this swept through him as if every particle of him were fragmenting…
Hers was a light forbidden to him.
No more.
He wasn’t giving her up!
Lore pulled every bit of agony deep into his gut, returning to his age-old conditioning of remoteness to deal with the throne situation. A near disaster that had almost taken away the only person who mattered.
The angel had awakened, snakes crawling all over him. He twisted and snarled, trying to get them off. Pity their venom would only irritate him.
Race wasn’t around, but evidence of his handiwork remained. The male’s clothes were scorched and hung in tatters.Parts of his skin were blackened and gory. The wounds hadn’t healed. Blood dripped from several twin puncture holes on his arms and legs.
Dragonfire was usually unparalleled in its destruction. But Race had left him still breathing.
Good.
