If I wasn’t already marked for death, I certainly would be now.
“Eira?” I asked quietly.
No answer.
Had she, too, fled for her life? Had she seen me slaughtering soldiers and left, horrified by the sight of me?
I was evil. A monster.
My throat tightened at the thought of her disgusted and frightened expression. How could she think otherwise?
“Eira?” I called out again.
“I’m here.” Her voice was far away, and clarity speared through my frenzied thoughts.Of courseshe would have taken cover. I could have accidentally taken her head off.
She dropped her invisibility, and there she was, lingering by a shop across the street. She approached me with a level stare, her face betraying nothing.
“Stella and Denton left,” she said, as if answering an unspoken question.
Good,I thought. If they had lingered, they would have either been caught or killed in the chaos. “But you didn’t.” My gaze never wavered from Eira’s.
“No. I didn’t.” Her eyes held mine, and I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to.
“You’re not afraid?” I asked.
Eira gazed around, her eyes taking in the slaughtered soldiers, the victims of my wrath. Her face remained impassive as she said, “You are frightening, Theron. A killer. Brutal and lethal. I can’t deny that.” She looked at me once more. “But I am not afraid.”
Several heartbeats passed, and I felt Eira scrutinizing me, as if peering into the deepest and darkest parts of my soul. But instead of fleeing from the monster she saw within, she drew closer to me. Her steps were careful and steady as she navigated around the bodies strewn about the street.
After what felt like an eternity, she stood before me. Slowly, as if afraid she would startle me away, she lifted her hand and pressed it against my cheek. And when she spoke, her words speared straight through me.
“Because I know you are so muchmorethan just a killer, Theron.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Her declaration rendered me speechless. I was going to say,I know, but I couldn’t. That would have been a lie.
WasI more than just a killer? I had been the queen’s assassin for so long, working in the trade I knew best because it came easily to me, that I wasn’t sure I knewwhoI was anymore.
“Who am I, princess?” I whispered.
She brought her other palm to my cheek so her hands framed my face. For a moment, we stood there sharing breath until our heartbeats were synchronized.
At long last, she murmured, “You are mine.” Her lips met mine in the tenderest of kisses, as if I hadn’t just committed vicious, violent acts in front of her eyes. She kissed me as if I were something fragile, something in need of protecting. As if she wanted to shield me.
Iwas the protector. Iwas the fighter. But Eira touched me, kissed me, like I was the most precious thing in the world. I had just exposed the vilest parts of myself to her, leaving me bare and vulnerable.
And right here and now—despite the bodies strewn around us, the blood soaking my clothes and the snow at our feet—Eira was accepting me.Allof me.
Tears burned behind my eyes as my mouth roved over hers, claiming her just as she had claimed me.
You are mine.
You are mine.
You are mine.
I should have been afraid.The sight of Theron decapitating soldiers—mysoldiers—should have horrified me. It should have sent me fleeing from his presence, not kissing him or making wild declarations like,You are mine.
What the hell did that even mean?
