Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3)

by Rebecca Yarros

“Meaning, will I support the myriad of ways you plan to court death in the name of curing one who is beyond redemption?” He

“But do not mistake my unflinching support of you, my mate, and Andarna for any form of faith in him.” Tairn lifts his head, cueing the end of the conversation.

“Pain isn’t a competition,” I assure him. “There’s always enough to go around.”

“I could reach the rank of Maven, lead armies of dark wielders against everyone we care for, and watch every vein in my body turn red as I channel all the power in the Continent, and I would still love you. What I did doesn’t change that. I’m not sure anything can.”

“Telling me you’re capable of horrible things while still loving me is pretty much your idea of foreplay.”

Gods, is he beautiful. His face is softened in sleep, and all the tension he usually carries in his jaw, his shoulders, is strikingly absent.

“Yes. And you should find a mirror,” Mira interrupts, earning his attention. “Sacrificing members of our family for what’s considered the greater good is a weapon straight out of Mom’s arsenal.” She walks away without another word.

Rebel’ is so…outdated. We prefer the term ‘revolutionary,’” I inform Aura, taking a measured step in her direction and welcoming the crackle of sizzling power in my fingertips. “And if you’re going to wield, then it’s me you’ll be dealing with.”

“You see, Dain’s too honorable to wield in a challenge, but you’ll find that my sense of morality has learned to…waver.”

The last time a shadow and lightning wielder fought side by side, they managed to drive the venin back into the Barrens for a few hundred years. We’ll figure out how to do it again.”

“Be careful.” He’s the Duke of Tyrrendor. This is so much bigger than how I feel about him now. There’s an entire province depending on him. I need to find a cure, and that means saving the alliance tonight… Even if it means I’ll be a traitor by morning.

He takes another step backward. “If I’d been there, beyond the wards, I would have drained the very earth to its core to keep you safe.”

“I live by you. When have I ever given a fuck about the Codex or the Code of Conduct?” He cradles my face and leans down, resting his forehead against mine. “I am yours and you are mine, and there’s no law or rule in this world or the next that will change that.”

“Have to say, the casual flex of power is pretty hot.”

Xaden looks my way and fucking winks as Loran attacks from behind, the sword transforming, lengthening as he strikes.

“I’m either completely in love with your boyfriend or utterly terrified of him,” Ridoc says under his breath. “Not sure at the moment.” “Both,” Cat answers from his left. “You can be both. Trust me.”

“Point made?” Xaden asks as Neve retrieves her blades and steps back into line. “I never need to draw a sword because I am the weapon. I’m just good with blades for the fun of it.”

but there’s only one person capable of taking me down one day, and it isn’t you, Graycastle.”

“Because you’re the only one capable of killing me.”

and I wouldn’t trade you for any ward, Sloane.

He lifts a hand toward the loosened strands of my braid, but never makes it. Shadows blast straight through the wards and hit Halden in the chest like a battering ram, sending the crown prince of Navarre flying backward—straight into the rock wall. Shit.

Hell effing yes

“It wasn’t a response, it was… It simply was.” Xaden crouches behind me as Halden pushes himself to sit upright. “Let’s get three things straight, Your Highness. First, I have remarkable hearing thanks to the shadows at your very feet. Second, I don’t control Violet. Never have. Never will. But third, and most importantly—” He lowers his voice. “She really, honestly hasn’t thought about you. At least not since the second she set eyes on me.” I’m going to fucking kill him.

I lift his hand and press a kiss to the center of his callused palm before putting it back above my heart and holding it there. “This will only ever be yours. You could leave me or even meet Malek, and it still would be. I’ve made my peace with knowing there’s no getting over you.”

And yet…if all of it hadn’t happened, would we still be us? Or is the miracle of our relationship the result of a precise combination of tragedies that broke us both so completely that when we collided, we became something entirely new?

“I can read it in every line of your body. Your eyes are a dead giveaway, too.” Under my fists, his heartbeat accelerates. “Always have been. You have no idea how many times I almost fucked up on the sparring mat when I caught you watching me.”

My chest clenches just like it did when I opened it. He’d somehow seen me eyeing the fabric in Deverelli, bought it, then placed the order to have it made before we left to search the other isles.

“That was fucking terrifying to watch.” Xaden’s gaze bores into mine. “And magnificent.” “I feel that way about you every day.” I smile,

“Well-the-fuck-aware,”

“If I loved you in the way you deserve to be loved, I’d ignore that you’re the only form of peace I’ve ever known and put a thousand miles between us because stable still isn’t whole.”

“The complete awe I feel when I remember that you’re mine.”

“But you have been known to wander while dreaming. It’s harmless. You’re mostly drawn to him.”