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“Remember who you are. Every step of the way down, and every step of the way back. Remember who you are. And that you’re mine.”
Her claiming marks, he’d breathed into her mouth the last time he’d been inside her. So he and anyone who saw them would know that he belonged to her. That he was hers, just as she was his.
A promise that had been whispered into the blackness.
Only a male who’d lost his damn mind would wander into that storm.
He likely would have loved the woman if she’d been ordinary.
She was able to read his moods now, the little tells that he believed no one could detect.
Elide halted, wanting to call him a liar, half because she knew he was lying and half because her own chest tightened at the words. But she kept silent, letting him walk ahead, that distance between them yawning wider with his every storming step.
It was not a hard choice. And it did not frighten him.
She had been forgotten—by everyone and everything. And still she had hoped. And still she had been kind to him. And still she had offered him a glimpse of peace in the time he’d known her. She had offered him a home.
Hope. Not dead.
You make me want to live, Rowan.
Even after ten years of this, it still drains me. Not just physically, but—in my heart.”
“We can figure it out. Make no demands of each other beyond honesty.” That was really the only thing he cared to request. It was nothing more than he’d ask of a friend.
And yes—to whatever end.”
“Do not mistake my silence for lack of feeling. I have good reason to keep my thoughts to myself.”
She had never contemplated what it would be like—to yield control. And not have it be weakness, but a freedom.
He would not let it end here, not let this be what broke them.
“You mean to tell me you waited a hundred years for him?” Enda shrugged, his grip on his sword lightening. “When it comes to the right person, Prince, waiting a hundred years is worth it.” He knew. He understood him so damn well that it made his chest crack to think of it.
“We all knew what the cost would be.”
“It is not such a hard thing, is it—to die for your friends.”
It had been ten years since then. Ten years, her father had never stopped waiting for Mala to return, hoping he’d see her again.
She had been watching, and waiting, and paying for her choices for so long. Too long.
Guide her. Help her. She will need you.” “And the price?”
“One of them must be ready—to do what needs to be done,” Elena said, if only because it was the sole way to explain, to apologize.
But he would not let his own fear erode his resolve.
He wished he’d had more time to talk to the witch. To get to know her beyond what his body had already learned.
He had told his cousin about the woman he loved, the queen whose heart burned with wildfire.
Through the only things Aelin had claimed were all she wanted from him. His heart. His loyalty. His friendship.
Memories flickered by.
I thought perhaps you could give those people who had wished and dreamed of a better world … at least give them a chance.
Will you come with me, so I will not be alone?
And so you would … find him. The one who had been waiting so long for you.” Aelin’s heart cracked. “Rowan.” Elena nodded. “He was a voice in the void, a secret, silent dreamer.
“I know. I’ve known for a long time.” “I wanted you to know that joy, too,”
I will be with you. Until the very end, every step of the way, I will be with you.”
Nameless is my price. To buy them a future, she’d pay it.
To those she loved with her heart of wildfire.
Aelin forced a half smile to her mouth, shoved her raw, bleeding heart into a box deep inside her chest.
This was the queen to whom he’d given his heart? This cold creature who looked at the world with mirthless eyes?
He’d betrayed them. Betrayed Aelin for her—
She’d sooner die than flee like a coward, not when Aelin was going to the mat for all of them, when— Darkness devoured flame.
you were so broken by your own pain you didn’t notice, either. And when the signs appeared, the carranam bond washed away any suspicion on his part that you might be his. But not you. How long has it been, Aelin, since you realized he was your mate?”
Even before today, I knew it was all just borrowed time, but I still wish we’d had more of it.”
And tell him … tell him thank you—for walking that dark path with me back to the light.”
She knew the pain. Knew what it’d feel like, what it’d sound like. Her dreams were still full of it.
There was a hole in his chest.
Will you come with me?
Part of him had known that Aelin was his mate. And had turned away from that knowledge, again and again,
Aelin had known, though. That he was her mate. And she had not pushed it, or demanded he face it, because she loved him, and he knew she’d rather carve out her own heart than cause him pain or distress. His Fireheart. His equal, his friend, his lover. His wife. His mate.
It was all borrowed time anyway.
He did not accept that. He would not accept that.
