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His scar seemed more prominent than ever, as if my affection for it had coaxed it out from its hiding place beneath his skin.
“Blessed Mother Lumnos offered me a choice that night, and I accepted it. I swore to her I would serve the grey-eyed Queen and fulfill her dream of peace. I kept the scar as a symbol of that promise.” His focus rose to me. “But you are the woman I pledged myself to. And now, this scar is for you.”
“Let all those who might try to tear us apart see this and know how far my devotion will go. I will suffer for you, bleed for you, but most of all, I will survive for you. My body can be carved in two, open and dying, and still I will crawl from the ruins of my flesh and fight my way back to your side. Death itself could not keep me away.
“My oath to you is written on my skin. Once, that vow was just to serve you.” He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “Now, it is everything.”
“Diem Bellator, you are everything I’ve ever wanted. You are my joy and my salvation. You are perfect. And I promise you this—I will love you for as long as love exists.”
He plunged into me in a single, powerful stroke, and it felt like coming home.
two warriors who craved peace but reveled in the fight.
Even when we chose to submit, neither of us ever fully gave in. We were doomed to eternal battle—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I succumbed to dreams of the future I was finally ready to claim.
“You... you’re going to do to me what they did to him.”
“I share the blame for not telling you sooner. Blessed Father Umbros warned me that our fate hung in the balance of your choice. He urged me to trust you, Instead, I tried to force your hand. That decision cost me much. This decision will cost me everything.”
And one from me—the new Queen of Umbros.
“With this spell,” Doriel began, “we bind Diem Bellator to this island. May she never again leave these shores.”
I’m too late.
My most loyal guard, my baby brother, the man I loved—I was going to lose them all. They were going to die right here in front of my eyes. All because I was too damn late. A rift cracked through the center of my soul. It split me open with the same explosive destruction as my falling blood when it fractured the heartstone. I no longer feared the cold, heartless monster Ophiucae had become—I welcomed it. I would embrace it with hateful glee. I would devour the world whole for all that they had taken from me. I would become a thing of vengeance and spite, I would—
Teller had sacrificed Perthe to save Luther, perhaps as much for Lily’s benefit as mine. Oh, how that choice would weigh on him. How the guilt and second-guessing would chase him through dark thoughts, haunting him as surely as it would haunt me.
I had committed myself to him, to us, and now that I knew he was out there fighting to get to me, I would fight just as hard to find my way back to him. And when I did, I’d tell him everything. I’d tell him that I was his and he was mine, now and always. I would tell him I wanted to be bound with him forever, in whatever life we could make in this world, and in eternity thereafter.
A feeling like I’d just gained something I desperately wanted.
the smirking face of the Ignios King stared back. “But the flames always win in the end.”
