Oh, my heart.
The man reaches for his helmet, sliding it from his head, baring all his savagery to me.
Jagged, black hair falls across glittering, green eyes. Seething breaths drag between perfect lips. And his fangs…quickly retract.
A thousand heartbreaking memories rush over me.
“I only came to make sure you were safe,” Antony says. Then, with a brutal smile, he murmurs, “You fucking took my breath away back there, Thyra.”
My hand flies to my mouth. I can’t stop my sob.
All this sadness. I had accepted it, but now it wells up again, tormenting me.
Antony is already backing away, even though my hand has risen, reaching for him.
I want to ask himhow? How is he alive? How did he survive his fight with Stellen in the bloodlands?
But the answer isn’t important to me right now.
What matters is that he’s here. He’salive.
His shoulders hunch as he takes me in, his jaw tensing. “Donotwith your kindness.”
Another sob breaks from my lips.
Stellen may have given me many warnings, but he also gave me freedom to feel what I need to feel.
And to say what I need to say.
And no, I will not act from kindness now.
I will act fromneed.
A need that burns in my heart as I say, “Antony. Vampyr. King of Iron…” My voice hardens. “You will not leave me.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
Antony
Standing this close to Thyra is killing me.
For seven nights, I’ve been pulled into her blade visions, my heart torn open over and over again as I watched her float, five paces away from me, sleeping in a field of dust.
It was the same blade vision I saw during my fight with Maxim.
Each night, the wound in my heart has broken open a little more, the injury concealed beneath my armor.
Now she’s standing right in front of me, dressed in warrior’s clothing, a yellow ribbon braided into her hair, her pale-blue eyes furious, and she’s fuckingcommandingme not to leave her.
She steps toward me, the corners of her mouth turning down, a snarl on her lips. “You willnot—” She drags in an angry, trembling breath. “You will not leave me again. Do you understand?”
Fuck me.
If she told me to fall at her feet, I would.
Only the thought of Azul tearing me to pieces keeps me from closing the gap between her and me. If I stay, the monstrous blue eagle will hunt me down and end me.
“I’m a danger to you, Thyra,” I say, extending the fangs I had quickly retracted. “That hasn’t changed.”
