With me.
“I’m … sorry,” I offer.
“Oh, great, you’resorry. Well, that makes me feel better!” Her light brown eyes shimmer. “I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, should I?”
“I’ve upset you.”
“Oh, you think?” She throws her hands into the air. “For whatever reason could I be upset?”
“Because … I didn’t come and find you?” I guess.
“Because youleft me, Ezryn,” she snarls. Angry tears flash in her eyes. “You left me and Kel there in the throne room. We had a chance to escape, and you chose your revenge over us and now you’re leaving me again.”
My body stills. The flicker of the lantern across the walls seems too bright, the crash of the waves outside too loud. I can barely remember that moment; there was only my hatred and my shame, emotions that felt as much living, breathing entities as Kairyn did.
“You agreed that I must go—”
“So what?” Rosalina storms right before me and shoves me in my chest. It’s not hard enough to make me move, so she does it again. Tears stream down her cheeks. “I spent three months inKairyn’s prison,hatingyou. Hating the fact that you chose Kairyn over us. Hating the fact that you would have killed yourself and robbed me of my mate if it meant bringing Kairyn down with you. Hating that your honor meant more to you than our love.” Each point is marked with a firm shove against me.
I snag her wrists to stop her from attacking me. “One day, I will get vengeance for what he did to you. I vow it.”
“Don’t you understand?” she yells. “That’s the problem! If you’re constantly meeting his storm with your own, you’ll only bring the whole world down with you.”
“Hehurtyou.”
“You hurt me,” she breathes. “You hurt me every time you doubt the strength of your heart. Every time you believe your worth only comes from how much blood you can spill. Every time you hold on to the curse because you think that’s what you deserve.”
Silence hangs between us. “Rosalina, I never wished to bring you such sorrow.”
“I will take the sorrow because it comes with the joy.” Her eyes sparkle with a fierce intensity. “But I will not let you destroy yourself because you think there’s no other way. You’re too smart and good and funny andkindfor that, Ezryn. Until you see that, the beast will never leave you.”
My breath catches in my throat, and I stare down at the floor, unable to meet her gaze. I know what she wants from me. To let go of the wolf and all the shame and malice he holds within him.
But without the wolf, what will be left of me?
“Without killing Kairyn, how else can I protect you, Rose?” I breathe.
“I don’t want vengeance.” Her voice cracks. “I only want you.”
Her rage—I can take it. I can take all of it, the words, the shoving, the vitriol. But the pain—knowing I am the cause—breaks me. Emotion floods my heart: anger and longing and love. Our bond is alive with all the emotions. Her anger is her love, as her grief is her love.
“You have me, Rosalina,” I breathe. “Wherever I go, you have me. Whatever desert I leave my footprints in, whatever wilderness I inhabit or mountain I scale. It was set by the Fates and bound in the stars. You have me.”
Tears run silently down her cheeks, and in my mind, I hear her voice:Promise me you’ll come back, Ezryn. Vow it. On your knees.
I do.
I sink to the floor and stare up at her. “Whatever it takes, I will return to you, my Queen. If I have to crawl, I’ll crawl. If I have to swim through rivers of fire, I’ll swim. If I have to defy the Fates themselves and rearrange the stars, I will do it.”
She looks down at me, a goddess looking at peasants from her throne in the clouds. “Stand.”
I do.
She cups the side of my face, and I lean into her touch. Her other hand caresses the line of my lips, my nose, my jaw. “I’m still angry with you,” she whispers.
“As long as you feel something for me.” Unable to hold back a moment longer, I grab her around the waist and kiss her.
She kisses me back, a woman starved. I cannot get enough of her taste; I wish I could devour her whole, right here, right now. Finally, when breath can wait no more, I pull away and bury my nose in the crook of her neck. I inhale deeply.
