A faint smile lit up her eyes. “Fair enough, but denial doesn’t look good on you. The debt was forged with love and it will be paid with love, and it gave me the unique power to heal an immortal’s death.”
He rubbed his forehead, willing away the blossoming headache. “The power to undo death?”
“The power to undoyourdeath. The healing part is just a bonus. I take the injuries into myself and heal them.”
“And you can only do it with a kiss?”
Again that blush, but she didn’t look away. “When you were a child and you fell and scraped your knee, your mother, I’m sure, responded the way all mothers do. She would hold out her arms, and say,Let me?—”
“—kiss it and make it better.”
She nodded.
Incredulity took hold. “So.” How was his voice still so calm? “You’re saying that this woman, who looks like you but isnotyou,promised my ancestor she’d repay him a debt owed in blood, and because of that, you’re in love with me, and you will steal my death with a kiss.”
Isobel pressed her lips together. “When you say it like that, it sounds so ridiculous.”
“Itisridiculous. You can’t possibly expect me to believe this.”
She blinked twice and burst into laughter. “I’ve imagined having this conversation with you a hundred times, but I never imagined you might not believe me.”
“This is unbelievable, Isobel. You have to see that.”
Staring at him like he was some unsolvable puzzle placed before her, she straightened her shoulders. “Is it not true that I have healed multiple injuries by kiss alone?”
“Yes—”
She stepped closer. “Is it also true that you have felt connected to me since the moment we made eye contact?”
“Well, yeah?—”
“And is it true that you have hated David Berkeley from your first breath?”
He tilted his head back and forth. “He hated me first?—”
“And did we not just tell you that David’s ancestor and yours fought over me?”
“Okay, I see where you’re going?—”
“So which part do you think I lied about?”
Sean grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to stop. “I’m not saying you lied. I understand that you believe this. What I’m saying is thatIdon’t believe it.”
She paused, her gaze dancing back and forth between his eyes. An entire bouquet of emotions shimmered over her face—disbelief, anger, panic, disgust—until she finally settled on passive resignation. “Fine. You don’t believe it. But this whole realm believes it, Sean. This is the doctrine of Luxoria. Everyone has heard our story. Everyone knows the tale of the two half-mortal brothers, one fated for good, the other for evil, and the woman who drove them to it.After it was done, an oracle foresaw Lhynion’s heir righting the imbalance. The realm was promised a redo, and they’ve beenwaitingfor you. It’s a bedtime story for the children of this realm. A religion in want of a god. Folklore still waiting for its ending. They fall to their knees inyourname. They call youAshanta, the divine light, the one destined to save us from the brink of destruction.”
His breath came faster, trying to keep up with a heart that wanted to pound out of his chest.
“You have to play the game, Sean. Do you understand? You have to be the man they expected. If you refuse to play along, this realm will fall apart. We’re barely surviving here, persevering with blind faith and the fading Luster. You’re our last hope.”
“I don’t?—”
Her voice went razor thin. “So you’ll accept your father’s guidance. You are Caden Seán Sidera, the only heir of our most noble family. When you are coronated, you will step into your role as Sovereign. You’ll pretend that you’re in love with me until you realize that you are. You will not feed into this animosity with Galadaine’s heir. You put on a show. Be the Savior they want you to be. It’s the only way this works. And if it turns out that none of it’s true, then you’ve lost nothing. You are loved here. Revered. Let them worship at your altar.”
“I don’t want this.” His words emerged thready, barely more than a whisper.
“Don’t you get it? You are a preordained messiah. No one cares what you want. Saviors aren’t allowed desires. They’re borne out of necessity to fulfill a role.So fill it.”
Sean paced away, staring at the vivid sky, the rainbows that refracted from the floating Luster. “If I’m a Savior, then what are you?”
