“I love you, too, of course.” He traced his lips across his mark at the base of her throat. “More than any crown or any throne. In every world that’s ever been and every one that’s yet to come. Maybe I can find us one with a happier ending.”
A sob bubbled past her lips and she squeezed her eyes shut against the tightness in her throat, the burning in her nose, the unbearable aches in her head, chest and jaw.
He thumbed her tears away. “Open your eyes, Cass. Look at me one last time.”
She did. High Gods, she did.
And he wasbreathtaking.
She loved him so much she thought her heart might explode.
And wouldn’tthatbe a gentler way to die.
It was the last thought in her head as Tristan cupped her cheek, and pressed his lips gently, so gently to hers.
A kiss to cling to as her breath dissolved and her life faded away.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
Rainbow-colored leaves swirled above Cassandra, stirred by warm, desert winds. There was silky sand beneath her feathers and a rough tongue lapping her cheek.
Her jaw was completely pain-free.
She struck out with an elbow and hit a fur-covered leg. “Alright,alright.I’m up. I’m awake.”
As she sat upright, the tiger standing next to her rippled, orange and white fur transforming into light brown skin and auburn hair.
“Hey, Cass,” Reena said with a sly smile, legs folded beneath a shimmering white robe. Identical to the one she’d worn in that picture Cassandra had found of Reena as a young female.
When she’d been an acolyte of Adelphinae.
“Hey, Cass,” Cassandra snorted, surveying her body, which was bathed in an iridescent, multi-colored sheen. She looked toward Reena, who was not glowing. “You’re not dead.”
“No. I’m not.”
“But I… I am, aren’t I?”
“Yes.” Reena nodded. “You are. Again.”
Cassandra jolted. “Again?”
Reena held out a hand, and Cassandra pulled herself to standing. The clairvoyant pool gurgled softly at her feet as a dramatic golden pink sunset kissed the dunes, a fiery sphere slipping beneath the miles-wide blanket of russet sand.
Reena stepped to the edge of the pool, beckoning Cassandra to join her. Her slinky confidence melted into nervous energy as she glanced out at the dunes. “I’m not supposed to be here. If she finds out…”
“She who? Adelphinae?”
Reena’s brows lowered and her voice pitched low. “He does this every time.”
“Reena, I don’t understand what you’re saying. You need to explain.”
Reena gestured to the pool. “Watch.See.”
The second word faded with a sibilant hiss, Reena’s voice multiplying a thousandfold.
The water churned, boiling and popping, then stilled. A scene crystallized upon the surface.
Cassandra’s body broken on the floor of the throne room in the Koenig’s castle. Tristan leaning over her, his lips pressed against hers.
