Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy, #3)

by Lauren Roberts

For those fearless enough to follow their heart

I thought I’d known torment until it wrapped around her finger. No, torment is tangible, and it gleams atop her tanned skin. I stare, unblinking, at the symbol my brother slid onto her finger. It is binding. It is infinite. It is my undoing. A laugh threatens to slip past my numb lips. It’s not as though she hadn’t promised to be my ruin, hadn’t already become my demise. She is the single most destructive thing I have ever desired, and yet, it is the diamond on her finger that will destroy me.

It was her I was meant to adore in this world and crawl to in the one after.

“Oh, I’m well aware.” His words are a whisper against my lips. “You are devastating, Pae.”

I flick the tip of his nose with a soft “You’re quite the poet, Prince.” Moonlight pools in the dimple that accompanies his grin. “And you the muse, darling.”

“Then we’ll make the most of it. I will be your Enforcer. Your rival. Your secret waiting beneath the willow.”

“So bow at my feet with a sneer, if you must. I won’t see it with your face to the ground.”

gripped between scarlet-stained fingers, hangs a crown.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the court, it seems Paedyn Gray has successfully completed her first Trial.” And with that, Paedyn’s lips lift. She raises the crown then, matching its bloody and mud-streaked appearance. I smile before she’s even done it. Wide enough to show those damn dimples she loves to hate. Yes, I smile when she pushes the crown onto her head. It sits atop her blood-streaked hair, drawing gasps from the gaping court. My breath catches as she stands before the king, every bit his queen-to-be.

“Pae.” His voice is ragged. “I would lose my life for you before finding something else worth living for.” His fingers weave into my hair, slide along the back of my neck. “You are my inevitable. In life and in death.”

Nothing has ever tasted as sweet as the silent promise on his lips. You are my inevitable. The kiss deepens, and with it, a plea with each press of my mouth. I love you. I tell him in the sigh he draws from my lips. In every slow caress across his skin. In every pounding beat of the heart that belongs to him. I love you. He smells of pine and spice and long nights under the willow. I love you. He tastes like a secret I wish to scream, a word on the tip of my tongue that will never be mine to utter. So I say his name instead, as if I could claim him so easily. As if I’m not thinking of three damning words when I say it. I love you.

She’s hypnotizing—every laugh, every smile, every sway of her hips.

I turn slowly toward the dance floor, and there she is, striding toward us with a dazzling smile between rosy cheeks. I’m breathless at the sight of her, doomed by the hope of having her. It’s a beautiful ruin, a devastating devotion. This girl holds my heart in her hands, could crush it between her fingers and still have me thanking her for the touch.

Composing herself, Pae looks down at me with watery eyes that may just be a drop of the sea itself. “There are a lot of things I pretend not to love.”

Every moment with her is spent mourning the next, awaiting the day we speak for the last time.

So I spin her in the moonlight. Smile when she laughs at my expense. And let her step on my toes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she breathes. My lips twitch. “This is the only way I’ve ever looked at you, darling.”

“You are my inevitable. In death, and in love.”

“My pretty Pae. Look what you have done to me.”

Her fingers stumble over a string of stitched words. The blue thread is splotched with blood, dulled beneath one of the many pockets. I hear Paedyn’s breath catch before the murmured words that follow. “See you in the sky.”

“Take care of her for me,” she whispers atop his pale skin. “Take care of her, Mak.” I almost don’t hear her final, broken whisper. “See you in the sky.”

I may be wearing a wedding dress meant for the king, but it’s his brother I continually run back to. “Don’t,” Kai practically chokes. “Don’t walk toward me wearing that dress.” I’ve never heard the Enforcer sound so shaken. “It only reminds me that I won’t be the one awaiting you at the end of that aisle.”

In my search for comfort, it is him I crawl back to. Peace is the place he resides, and passion is a word I only understand when I look into his eyes. He is the freedom I cannot grasp. We are inevitable. We are tragedy.

A queen now stands where a thief once had—brave, benevolent, and brutal. She stands victorious.

There was a quiet walk through the garden, interrupted only by the occasional reminiscence of the boy buried so near. Our trip to the kitchen was filled with soft laughter and warm sticky buns—Jax sought comfort in his brother’s arms while Gail kissed the top of Kai’s head. I’ve urged him to write like Kitt had, relieve his mind of the many swirling thoughts within. His hands are still stained with ink.

There is still dirt under my nails when the crown is placed on my head. It is a silver tangle of steel, sharp and swirling among my black hair. Kitt’s golden crown remains with him, still gently resting on his brow beneath the willow tree’s base.

She walks toward me, looking like a dream I wish to never wake from. Her fingers clutch a collection of twining stems. Above, poppies’ red petals bleed into pink roses while the deep blue of dainty forget-me-nots weaves between.

A bead of water splatters Paedyn’s nose. She laughs. Rain drips from the canopy of leaves to sprinkle us in the brewing storm. Damp hair curls atop my forehead. Jax lifts his palms toward the crying sky. Ellie stares lovingly at her queen. Gail’s tears mingle with the rain while Andy rests her head on the cook’s shoulder. Lenny winks at the drenched bride who passes.

This is the gathering of loved ones, and the spirits of those left behind. This is a union of souls that ache to be stitched together.

She is what my scarred heart beats for.

King and queen. Shadow and Flame. Poet and muse.