Vow of the Shadow King (Bride of the Shadow King, #2)

by Sylvia Mercedes

“What if there is no other way?” I say again softly. “What if we are each other’s only hope?”

And yet I’ve always known that with Vor, I was never second. He would have chosen me first had the choice been his all along.

She’s so delicate, so frail, yet her spirit is strong. She’s like the captive songbirds I’d seen at Beldroth, fluttering at the bars of their gilded cages.

We cannot save each other. We cannot even save ourselves.

We, the two of us, must choose to make a life together, no matter what dire threats loom in whatever uncertain future.

“I don’t care about the risks, Vor. I’m ready. I’m ready to risk it all because any risk is worth it to be with you. If this moment is all we ever have, I’m willing to accept whatever pain may come.”

“I would hazard it all. My realm, my crown, my kingdom. Even my honor. All for you. Only for you.”

I am his just as he is mine.

Only my love. The love I chose. The love I will go on choosing. Forever.

love you, Vor. I will always love you. Wherever I go, I carry my love for you with me. But now you must let me go. Let me go, Vor.

“The brink of death is not death itself, dear boy.”

Pain doesn’t change the truth of the connection we had, the peace I knew in his presence. The joy, the glory. All of it was real. I wouldn’t trade a moment.

“I give it all, Faraine,” I whisper, my mouth against her soft hair. “My heart. My life. Come what may, I am yours.”

“Live. For you are my very life. Gods damn me for not speaking sooner! But I won’t lose whatever time we have now. I won’t go another moment without you knowing the truth: You are my heart. My soul. My wife. From this day until my last, I am yours and no other’s. Whether you come back to me now or not, it makes no difference. I give you everything, everything.”

Hers is the strength of compassion, of understanding and sympathy. A strength I’ve not properly understood or appreciated until now.