“But it’s more than that,” he added quietly. “Nyx wants me to rule over the Shadow Realm as Vidaris’s right hand.” He gently pulled her hands away from his face, putting space between them. It felt like an entire mountain separated them.
“It’s my birthright. Whether I will it or not, one day the gods will ensure I take up the helm and fulfill my duties.” He shook his head and laughed bitterly. “Only one born of both worlds can sit on the throne of darkness in the Shadow Realm. It’s written in the stars for me.”
Her breath caught. She fought against the tears threatening to spill—blessed Divine, she was tired of crying. Her body was exhausted, but buzzing with energy at the same time.
“You don’t have to carry this alone anymore—you never should have done it alone. All this time we could’ve…” She trailed off, unable to keep the frustration from her voice. “Nyx doesn’t know what our future holds. No one does.”
His gaze landed on her tears and his face fell, the mask of thecommander crumbling again. She stared into the eyes of the boy she once knew, his vulnerability seeping through his normal facade at her words.
“But it doesn’t make it a risk I’m willing to take.” He held her gaze, his midnight eyes blazing with determination. “I want to keep you safe. To prevent you from the possibility of losing me all over again.”
Evelina growled in frustration. She placed her palms against his chest and pushed him back a step.
“You didn’t have to decide this alone!” she shouted, her temper flaring. She pushed him again, and this time, her hands curled around the collar of his shirt as she seethed. “This ismychoice.I’mwilling to chance it. We’ve seen so much death, Daimon. So much pain and loss. Our days could be numbered as it is, and you want to spend it being in fear?”
His eyes traveled down to her mouth, her hands still gripped in his shirt. She didn’t know if she was pulling him closer or pushing him away.
He’d had countless chances to tell her this, yet he hadn’t. Despite the grief she felt for what he’d gone through all alone, she was still furious with him.
“I always thought you never came back because you grew tired of me,” she admitted. “You led me to believe that. You had the chance to tell me the truth and you chose not to.”
“My heart will never tire of you,” he said immediately, his voice a low hum.
Her nostrils flared as he stared down at her. She squeezed the fabric bunched in her hands tighter and pulled him a little closer.
She didn’t know where her pain ended and his began.
She needed him to fight for her, to show her that he wouldn’t abandon her again. As much as she wanted to fall into his arms, she couldn’t forget the years he’d stayed away. He’d built walls around himself so high that she didn’t know how they would ever truly come down. But she needed to see him try.
“Then don’t give up so easily,” she begged. “Don’t let me go this time.”
Forty-Six
Daimon
“Easy?”Daimon shook his head, wishing Evelina could see the years he’d spent throwing himself—mind and body—into being a soldier just to hold himself back from returning to her. From letting his selfishness win and ruining her life just to love her.
“I’ve held myself back for years,” he whispered. She deserved the truth—the full truth of how tightly his chains were bound. “From accepting Nyx’s fate, from ever allowing what happened to my mother to happen to another, andespeciallyfrom making you love someone as unworthy as me.”
He wrapped a hand around her waist and brought the other up to slide into her hair. She leaned in closer to him, their noses nearly touching. They were tucked away on the edge of the pond and hidden between the trees, an escape from the war and pain that plagued their lives.
“You have always been worthy, Dai,” she whispered.
There was a time he craved to hear those words—hoped that if she believed in him, then he could believe in himself too. But it was more than that. The wound of feeling like he didn’t belong ran deeper than even her words could heal.
Growing up, he had always known something was…off about him. Maliena and Neve were great to him, but he knew he was not their real child, and he knew the depths of his shadows were something to hide rather than celebrate. It wasn’t until Nyx found him that he understood why he should feel so ashamed of them—that his very existence had turned his mother to ashes. His past so dark he could not bear to look at it, and his future promised to even more darkness.
But he had become a wyvern Rider, had bonded with a creature sent by Eurydice herself. He had lived a life where he could pretend he belonged. He had fought faithfully for the empire and resisted the call to be the Lord of Shadows. Maybe Eurydice had favored him for his resilience and faith.
The only reason he had done any of that was because of one person and one person only.
Evelina. The woman right in front of him.
He felt a sense of belonging with her in his life, felt understood.
He had always been afraid of what his future held. If he were honest with himself, he had always been terrified by the possibility of losing Evelina. So he pushed her away and lost her anyway.
But when he looked into her bright hazel eyes, he wasn’t afraid anymore. He’d always thought he had to do this alone, but now he could see just how wrong he had been.
