Reign of Stars and Fire (The Broken Kingdoms, #8)

by L.J. Andrews

“Gods, woman. Can I hide nothing from you?” “Never.” Elise pecked my chin, then arched a brow, waiting.

I missed him. Not a slow ache of longing. This missing was a molten blade stuck between the ribs. Always there, always burning, always pleading for me to rip it out and either heal the hole or bleed out.

“I love you, you bleeding menace,” he said, voice rough. “Out of anyone, I cannot risk losing you.”

“Trust me, I know, you beautiful bastard.” I pressed a kiss between his shoulders. “Don’t you think I feel the same? I have never loved anyone, not the way I love you. I have given you half my heart, Ari, but with you, I’m whole.”

“Understood. Yes, I mentioned a wife, and I’m obliged to keep mentioning her if that is how we’re to spend our time. She is, after all, my favorite thing to mention.”

“I will change the whole bleeding world if it means he lives.”

“Listen to me, my darling menace. Every step I take, alone or otherwise, is to find my way back to you.”

“Never think such a thing again, understand me? You are my wife. To me that means you are my every bleeding sunrise.”

“This has always beat for you,” she said. “This woke for you. I thought I knew love, Ari. It was nothing but infatuation and manipulation. I loved you before I knew I didn’t hate you. The feather was yours, and yours it will stay.”

But with my menacing wife against my body, there was a heat burning in my heart, a new truth swallowing the darkness, that a life with her love, no matter how short, would be grander than a long, empty existence.

“I vow to you,” I sat up and brushed my lips against her neck, “I will fight to free myself from here. You must promise me you will keep yourself safe, so you’re there when I wake.”

“My dream of dreams is to stay holed away in a bed with you for the entirety of a month. If I could keep you here, I would never let you go.”

“You are worth every risk, Ari Sekundär.” Saga’s voice was distant. “Believe that and return to me.”

“She challenges you for she is safe with you. The Raven Queen knows she can fall, and you will catch her. She knows she can fight, and you will sharpen her blade. She knows she can speak, and you will give her the room. Again, use these strengths to your benefit.”

“You are still one of the most beautiful bastards I’ve ever seen.”

“Riot Ode was no fool. He knew his world would soon be undone, but he refused to leave folk helpless without a way to access his different magicks. He gave each tale power, and made paths for those fated to rise and stand for this land.”

Bleeding hells. The history of every artifact ran through my head. Malin’s ring passed down through lines of queens. Valen’s axes that made him the Blood Wraith. My vows that broke a curse over a lost queen.

“Show me whatever it is you think I must see, then take me to my damn wife.”

In a way, I’d always been connected to Saga.

“We all ought to have a choice. We all deserve devotion. We win when we stand with honor. And it pays to have a touch of cunning.”

“You dead means an empty world for me, Kari.” He kissed her slow and deep, a private moment made public. I couldn’t look away. Halvar grinned against her lips and went on, “Besides, no one makes stunning and clever offspring like we do. In fact, this has reminded me how short life can be even for fae folk; I suggest we get started on a third.”

“Taking vows with him has claimed the brightest spot in my memories.”

Saga was worth my every breath, my every heartbeat. She was not a love I simply felt in my heart, she was a love I tasted, one trimmed on every thought, every touch yearned to be hers.

Did it mean these ropes of light were fated paths of a new world? The ones Riot foretold when he snapped his kingdom at the seams? The shadows, those would be the promised hate that fought to destroy the last song of the fate king, the destiny of his sister, and the ones who’d restore the power a cruel enemy desperately desired.

The gift of choice.

A gift of devotion.

All this time, I thought the king had written the curse that created the broken kingdoms, but the paths that would split to different worlds, only to bring us back together again, were caused by . . . the littles.

“A king will rise to his heart’s cries.” Wraith’s eyes flashed in a frenzied gleam. “Take what you’ve seen and find the power stronger than this sleep to pull you back.”

“I have need for you to cease whatever is going on here, wife. I need to see you and touch you, or I will grow rather violent.”

Never had I experienced the need to devour someone. In this moment, I could not taste enough of Ari. I wanted more, wanted everything.

“I missed you,” I whispered. “I had a frozen heart for turns, but nothing has felt so empty as this time without you.”

“I love you, Saga,” he said softly. “Life with you is my greatest honor.” I turned to face him. My thumb tugged on his bottom lip. I kissed him sweetly. “The honor is mine. Forever.”

“Your husband does not remember his name at the moment.” I kicked off my boots. “Tell me why you’re pressing those perfect breasts to the window for anyone to see? Those belong to me, or must I remind you?”

“As in, I think I will cause a great deal of violence in your name and there would not be a drop of guilt.” I hesitated. “I told you once you thawed me, too, and you have. I have never, nor will I ever, feel this way about anyone. Whatever happens, know that.”

Riot lived before the lot of us. How were these tales written? How did they find their way here? Better yet, how long had Riot Ode been creating the tales of a world even he did not know existed?

“You’re vicious. The answer is yes. I’m begging you, pleading, imploring with all my might for you to spread those beautiful thighs over me this instant. Shall I get on my knees? I would, you know. I’d have the perfect angle for the perfect taste.”

“You’re my beautiful destruction, Saga,” he whispered. “I will go mad trying to keep you safe, yet I will never stop fighting for you. Even when I know he is dead, I will always fight every day for your happiness. You’ve become my obsession. That is how you are the sweetest menace.”

“I’ll fight for you. Know that.”