Tales of the Celestial Kingdom (The Celestial Kingdom, #2.5)

by Sue Lynn Tan

Eternity only meant something when you had someone to share it with, not when it would take you from all you loved.

Immortality was a hollow gift, regret poor company for a broken heart.

For we were cut of the same cloth, of the same stubborn and unflinching nature—and we would either soar together or destroy each other. Never the latter, I swore, for I would win her to my side.

Despite her innate strength, her refusal would not matter for he could bend her mind, manipulate her to do his bidding. Few could match his skill in those arts. My stomach turned, not just because of my inherent distaste for this use of our magic, but because deep down, I did not want her to change . . . even if it meant she would be mine.

I wanted to say more, to lift her face to mine—to ask for her heart, as I was in danger of losing mine.

I sensed nothing at first, when she came. But she returned again and again, weeping as she spoke to me, until one day . . . I woke from oblivion. She needs me. As I need her.

“My dreams have changed since we met,” I said bluntly. “Now, I want to spend each day as tonight.”

do not believe in another fixing our destinies. I believe we make our own, and some of us might even defy that which is written in the stars.” “I would move the stars for you,” I said quietly, as something shifted into place inside me. “I would defy them all.”