The Emperor of Evening Stars (The Bargainer, #3)

by Laura Thalassa

“Oh, and be kind to your dear human mate. You really don’t deserve her.”

I swear to the Undying Gods that once I’m able to, I will scour the earth for my soul mate. I’ll put my past behind me and focus on the future. And when I find her—if I find her—I won’t waste time fearing what others will think. I’ll cherish her, respect her, love her. For all the days of her mortal life, I’ll claim her as mine.

Once I find her—and I have to believe that I will find her—I won’t let her go. I’ll cherish her, love her, and eventually, I’ll feed her lilac wine. I will make her wholly and completely mine, and I will be hers. Till darkness dies.

It’s sometime in the deep night, hours after I should’ve left, when it hits me for the first time— I love her. Those three words just pop into my head, fully formed. I love her. This isn’t some bond-borne magic being shoved down my throat. This isn’t even romance. This is love-you-till-your-skin-sags-off-your-bones. Love you till then and beyond. It’s not lustful, it’s not selfish or petty.

She’s going to break me. I fell in love with this woman’s darkness, with her pain and vulnerability. That had been enough. But when she laughs—when she laughs, that’s when I realize I’m a ruined man.

By the time we leave the dance, Callie’s cheeks are flushed, and a sheen of sweat coats her skin. I’m having very inappropriate thoughts about precisely how I’d make use of that sweat.

“Hello, Desmond Flynn,” she finally says, deliberately using my full name. She might as well have reached between my legs and squeezed my balls.

Here’s to hoping I don’t come in my pants twice in one day.

I’ve held her a thousand times in my dreams, and I have died a thousand times upon waking. My heart, my soul. My queen. “Callie,” I say, “I love you. I’ve loved you from the beginning. And I will love you long after the last star dies. I will love you until the end of darkness itself.”

“I love you, Callypso Lillis.” I love you. I love you. I love you.

“I want to wake up every morning to you, cherub, and one day, in the future, when I’ve made myself worthy of it, I want to marry the shit out of you, and then I want to have lots and lots of babies with you. If, that is, you will have me.”

“And mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and the sea claim the land and swallow the sky. But you will always be mine. And the stars might fall from the heavens, and night might cloak the earth, but until darkness dies, I will always be yours.”