His voice is both gentle and powerful as he asks, “Did you really think I could forget you, Caera?”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Idraw such a sharp breath that it hurts.
No.It can’t be him. It looks like him. Somewhat like him. But it can’t be him. “How are you?—?”
How is he here?
“You can’t be here.” I stumble backward, desperately trying to remember that I can’t go to him. I can’t touch him. I need to keep him safe and alive, even if safe and alive means far away from me. “You can’t come near this crown.”
“I’m not afraid of it,” he says, stepping toward me instead of away. “I’m not afraid of you, Caera.”
I growl back at him with all my fury. “You may not be afraid, butIam. I lost you once. I can’t lose you again.”
He stops moving. “You won’t lose me.” The corners of his mouth hitch up. Hesitant. “I have power of my own. You gave it back to me. You can’t hurt me.”
“What… what power?”
Now, he smiles. “Come closer, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
I scowl at him, not quite believing him. Still, I take a very small step forward. “There. Now tell me.”
He tilts his head. “That isn’t close.”
I glare at him. Then I take another step. Surely close enough now. “What power?”
He shakes his head, but his voice is gentle. “Not even remotely close enough.”
To my dismay, he takes a step back. Away from me, and it’s as if a thread between us stretches painfully. A thread I didn’t know had formed between us so instantly.
Then he does it again, taking another step back.
My eyes widen. A louder snarl leaves my lips, this one filled with the fury of my power. “Stop.” My voice is a command. “Do not—” I draw a sharp breath, trying to constrain my fears and my needs. “Do not come back to me and then?—”
He stops still, but only for a second.
His feet are moving again, but I can’t let him go.
Only moments ago, I feared for him, but the power radiating out from him…
Oh, that power.
I don’t know what it is, but it’s even more intoxicating than the darkness I control.
Suddenly, I’m running toward him, throwing myself forward and into his arms. “Don’t go.”
He catches me, pulling me upward, enveloping me in arms that are full of strength.
My throat is so strangled with sadness and fear that I can hardly speak. “Don’t go.”
He cradles my head in his hands. “Caera, how could I ever leave my heart?”
He scoops me up and turns toward the trees, carrying me while I wrap my legs around his waist and hold on as tightly as I can.
With every step he takes, I push away my fears—so much terror that the crown will hurt him—but the light around him doesn’t wane.
He doesn’t falter or stumble.
