He pushes off the railing with a sigh and paces down the balcony. “Not if he crosses the Arterian border. He’s a smart man. If he truly means to keep the ring for himself, he’d cross it and know that I can’t follow.”
I lean back onto the railing as I watch him pace, crossing my arms over my chest. “Yes, but that would put him in Aaric’s territory.”
“Better to be in Aaric’s territory unbeknownst to him and his subjects that he has the Blood Ring, then in mine where I know he has it and am hunting him for it.”
I nod and look over my shoulder as the wind blows my hair back from my face. “I told you I never liked him.”
He sinks his face into a hand, rubbing his eyelids. “I should have listened to you.”
“Okay then listen now…” I push off the railing and go to him. As I rub a hand up and down his bare bicep, he drops his hand from his face. “I have to report back to the Arterian border. I can hunt him down in Arterias, find him, and?—”
“What?” he sighs, eyes searching mine. His eyebrows pinch tighter. “No, no I can’t lose you again.”
My face falls into a frown as I look away from his eyes. “Cyrus, the reason the beast is gone, is because I…” I blow out a breath. “My brother is in custody in Arterias. I made a blood pact to free him if I killed you.”
“That’s impossible, he’s in Millton?—”
“He’s not.” I finally look up at him. “I don’t know how, but they took him. I knew even if I completed your mission in finding an assassin there’d be no way for you to free him if he was in Arterias. Maybe you created the job as a ruse to get me back here—but all along it wasme. I-I had no choice...”
“Shhh, it’s alright, love,” he whispers, pulling me into his bare chest.The beat of his heart comforting beneath my ear as he wraps his arms around me. “It’s alright.”
We stand there quiet for a moment, the both of us looking out at the darkened horizon.
“Do you have to go back to Arterias tonight?” he whispers above my head.
I shake my head into his chest, not wanting to leave the warmth of his skin. His arms unwind around me, slowly, and he drops down onto a knee before me. Large hands wrapped around mine. “Marcella, look at me.”
Sucking in a breath, I look up from our clasped hands.
“When do you have to report back?” he asks.
“The first day of winter. They won’t hurt Connor until a day after.”
A small smile lifts his lips, eyes tender. “Maybe it’s selfish of me to ask you to stay. I mean…” He chuckles, though it’s more pained than humorous. He motions with his chin to the castle grounds. “All things considered, I wouldn’t blame you for being appalled at the state of things. If none of my guards are left, I’ll be spending a week clearing the castle of bodies before they rot. There’s no reason for you to stay here...”
He shakes his head gently as he gazes up at me. “But, I can’t help myself. Stay with me. Stay with me until it’s time to go, until the last day of fall.”
Sliding both of my hands out of his to cradle his jaw, I fold to my knees so I can look him in the eyes and speak from my heart, “You’re more than enough reason to stay here. I’d clear the halls of corpses for you and spend weeks scrubbing floors or fixing curtains if it meant I got to spend it next to you.” My lip begins to tremble, already anticipating the rift. “But it’ll only hurt more later if I stay.”
“Then I’ll bear it. Whatever time I have with you, it’ll be worth the lifetime of suffering to come. Even if you stay a month, a week, aday.” His thumb brushes my cheek, teary eyes working on some distant solution as he admires me with a small smile. “Please. Let me love you how I’ve always wanted to, even if it’s only for the last half of the year. Even if I only get the summer and fall with you…” A heavy sigh slips from his lips, tight and shaky. “Please. Because as long as the sky is blue and the flowers grow in the spring…”
A tear slips from his eyes, his fingersbrushing me with frantic concern. He pulls me in so our foreheads press together. “My heart is yours, Marcella,I love you.”
I shake my head. Scared that if I stay longer with him, I’ll only fall harder. That when the time comes, it’ll crush me beyond repair to leave.
I haven’t wanted to accept the fact that someone else challenges what I believe—what Iwant. But as his voice breaks and as his tears slip, I can’t help it. I can’t help but remember my desperation for one more moment with him when I thought he was dead.
Perhaps this is the best fate can give me.
Six months with the man I love.
“Please,”he whimpers brokenly.
That’s all the convincing it takes. I crash into him and almost knock him over, pressing my mouth to his. His shoulders shake with a relieved cry, his strong arms enveloping me, holding me to him in the cold night. Like if he tries hard enough, I’ll become one with him and never be able to leave.
But for the next six months, the next one hundred and seventy days…
I won’t.
