“Promise?” I don’t know what made me say it. This wasn’t something he could guarantee. No one could. The future was an unknown. We were surrounded by enemies and obligations, but I didn’t want this feeling in my chest to ever end.
Shade didn’t answer and that warmth turned into a sinking deep in my gut. Moisture filled my eyes before he spoke again.
“I’ll do whatever it takes, my Solis, to keep you forever.”
Chapter 35
Late the next morning, when Eleanor stalked into the tent, I was barely awake and hunched over my breakfast. Her face was set in determined lines, though her brows hit her hairline when she caught Shade placing a tender kiss on my neck.
Hazel eyes flicked between me and the man at my side, whose fingers were running circles over my thigh and eliciting a craving that would never be satisfied.
“What is it?” I asked when she didn’t immediately speak.
Instead of responding, she looked at Shade apologetically. “Can you please give us a moment?”
He inclined his head slightly, then pressed a soft kiss on my forehead and murmured, “Keep me close.” Then he disappeared in a swirl of smoke and sandalwood, leaving a light caress along my hand. As soon as the last of his smoke disappeared, I tucked the vibrating lamp in my pocket, turning to face Eleanor.
“What’s going on?”
She glanced toward the entrance, eyebrows pinched. Biting her lip, she stepped toward me, leaning close to breathe her next words. “Promise you won’t make the second wish. No matter what happens, don’t give him what he wants, even to protect me.”
I straightened, slightly taken aback by her words. Why would she ask this of me? Something she knew I couldn’t give her. “I can’t promise that. You come first. Always.”
“This is bigger than me, Lia. Bigger than all of us. Terym is destroying people’s lives, don’t help him do it,” she hissed in a rush.
I shook my head, ready to refute her words, nothing was more important than her life. We would try and get out, but if it came down to it, if it was a choice between Eleanor’s life and using the second wish, I wouldn’t hesitate.
“You never have any faith in me. I’ve told you, I can take care of myself.”
It was the same way she spoke when she confronted me about the betrothal. With strength and determination shining bright in her eyes.
It wasn’t a plea but a command. The command of a true queen. I didn’t know when it happened, but my baby sister was no longer the young naïve girl I had desperately clung to all these months.
She was a woman. A strong and kind and brave woman.
She was ready.
I had been so blind, content to stay in the past and not face the future and its reality. So much so, I convinced myself she couldn’t handle it when, in fact, it had been me who was scared.
Shade had known, had said she was ready to accept the burden of her fate. I should have listened. After all, a leader could recognize their own, and he recognized her as a queen from the very beginning.
I couldn’t hold it back any longer, I would tell her the truth.
“Eleanor, I need to tell you something.” The change in my tone sent her brow furrowing. It would be a risk to say the words aloud. Here. But I suddenly had an intense need to get it off my chest. She needed to know before we faced what came next.
We were running out of time.
“I have to tell you the truth about our parents. Your parents.”
She drew back, eyes wide. “What do you meanmyparents?”
I swallowed thickly. This was it. I’d tell her the truth.
“When Mom died, she told me—”
“What do you mean when she died? You said they were already gone when you got home?” Her desire for the truth, for all truths shone in her eyes, and I braced myself.
“I lied.”
