Vincent only shook his head before glancing back down at his folded hands. An impenetrable wall seemed to erect itself between us. I hated it, but I was also too tired to find a way around it. I let out a breath and headed toward the food he’d brought.
“War is on the horizon,” Vincent said, making me stop mere inches from the dresser. “A lot of people are going to die, including us.”
I nodded. The truth was like a stone tied to my feet, pulling me beneath the current. “I know. You can’t be upset with me for giving up that medallion.”
“The medallion?” Vincent looked at me as if I were crazy. “It is more than the medallion, Cami. Nismera has been planning a conquest for thousands of years. That medallion was merely a tool. She will use it now that she has it, but it’s not really her we need to worry about. Not truly.”
My brows furrowed as I looked at him, the food cooling on the dresser long forgotten. “I’d say she’s pretty much our greatest concern.”
“You think it stops with her? Look at all who have gathered around her, those who follow. If she succeeds with her conquest, the realms are fucked long after her bones turn to light.” Vincent stared at his hands, picking at the calluses on his palms. “Harsh ideals don’t die with the men who start them.”
“Well, I cannot control the minds of men,” I said.
He said nothing. I’d assumed he would be mad at me for my decision. I had felt the tension between us since we’d been taken, but I was just glad we were both alive. What I hadn’t expected was that he would push me away as he was doing. I looked away and reached for the tray.
“You shouldn’t have given it up,” he said, barely above a whisper. “Not for me.”
I stopped, not even past the bedpost. “How can you say that to me?”
“Because you’re smarter than that. You were tied to Kaden and his nefarious plans for hundreds of years, just like I was. Nismera is worse. We both know what power does to beings like them, and you gave it away, tossed it as if it were nothing. We could have—”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you forget the blade at your throat? Or the other grave injuries? You’d be dead.”
“Then you should have let me die,” he snapped, and my breath caught in my throat. That’s why he was mad. “Let my worthless life at least mean something at the end.”
I couldn’t help the tears that pricked in my eyes. I had thought those same words after Gabby died, after my greatest betrayal. It was one reason I’d taken her body. I’d wanted Dianna to have the chance to say a final goodbye. Some part of me had hoped that she would take her revenge, alleviating my guilt and leaving behind nothing but smothering embers, but it did not come.
“It’s not worthless,” I said. “Not to me.”
He scoffed and turned away from me, wiping a hand across his face.
My lips pressed into a thin line as I looked at him, and I took a step forward to stand between his thighs. I reached out, cupping his face and making him look at me. “I have no one, no family or friends, nothing in this cursed world because of my actions. Even with my powers, a part of me was scared to stand up for anyone. I decided that would not be me, not anymore, and so I chose to stand up for you. You’ve had no choice since the beginning, Vincent. Nismera took that from you, and I refuse to let this world cast you as the villain you’re not. Nothing about you is worthless to me, and I would hand over that fucking medallion a thousand times over to prove it.”
He was quiet for a moment, and I was preparing to defend my actions further, but his eyes didn’t hold an ounce of anger, only understanding and sorrow. He reached out and wound his arm around my waist, dragging me to him. Heat coiled tight from his touch, but all he did was maneuver me to stand between his legs. His hands lowered to the back of my thighs, and even though my magic was exhausted, something in me flared to life.
He looked up at me, holding me firmly in place, as if he feared that the words he was about to say would chase me away. “I think I died on that mountain fighting Dianna. At least for a little while, and all I saw, all I thought about, was getting back to you. I don’t really know how mating bonds work. I’ve only ever been enslaved to a goddess, but I think if I were allowed to have one, it would be you.”
I blinked, dumbfounded by the raw confession spilling out of the man whom I’d once had to beg to be my friend.
“You’re it for me and have been for a while,” he went on. “From the moment I saw you, I knew I was done, and you didn’t even look at me that night. But I watched, following you like a phantom cloaked in shadows. I think I have been following you my whole life, desperately waiting for you to turn around and see me.”
I cupped his face, staring down into his depthless eyes. Oh gods, what this man did to me. My heart pounded, and it felt like I had forgotten how to breathe. Vincent held my gaze and threw himself wide open to me, letting me see everything as he continued.
“Years passed, and all I felt was torment. I just wanted to be around you, but my lies got in the way. Time meant nothing, changed nothing, and you continued to haunt my mind. I know it’s foolish to harbor so much hate for Dianna simply because she was with you before me, but I do. I hate that she had what I didn’t dare even reach for.”
I shook my head, about to protest, but he squeezed the back of my thighs to stop me.
“Then, when we were forced together in Nismera’s palace, a prison made of polished stone and nightmares, it was the only time I had ever felt solace because I was with you. Tell me what you want, Camilla. Tell me where to go, and I’ll follow on hands and knees if I must. My life, my sword, all of it is for you. I will serve you and only you until you have no more need of me or death claims us.”
Sometimes I forgot he was a powerful, ancient warrior. Duty and blood were all he knew, and pledging loyalty meant far more than pretty words. I tipped his head up and slanted my lips over his, kissing him deeply. The wall between us was no longer built on anger, but this all-consuming feeling of dread that life was moving too fast, too violently, and we were losing it.
I pulled back. “Then I pledge the same. I don’t have a sword, though.”
Vincent gave me a small, quick smile that nearly broke my heart before pulling me close and resting his head against my stomach. I held him close, running my hand through his soft, short hair. Vincent’s breath teased against the bared strip of skin between where my tank top stopped, and my pants hung low. His hands kneaded the back of my thighs in comfort, but I couldn’t help the way my breath hitched at his touch. His eyes snapped to mine, and I knew he felt it too.
He took a shuddering breath that sent goosebumps skittering across my skin and made my nipples harden. My tongue swept across my bottom lip, and I bit back a soft moan, savoring the lingering taste of his kiss. He ran his nose across my skin, inhaling deeply as he placed a kiss just beneath my navel. My heart thrummed, and maybe I pressed forward out of instinct, or maybe it was need, but I stopped thinking when I felt his lips press a kiss just over my hip bone and his hands rise to my ass. Then higher.
“Vincent.”
