Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
“I don’t know.” He tucks a curl behind my ear and studies me. “I can’t risk losing you again. Just let me keep you safe until you’re on that throne. And all the days after. Let me do that.”
“I still wish there were another way,” I say, and he squeezes his eyes shut.
“I was wrong before,” he says. “If I’ve learned anything in over a century of life, it’s that you have to make room for hope. Always. I don’t have any answers right now, but I promise you I’ll never stop trying to find a way we can be together.”
I close my eyes. I’ll never stop trying. I had to be trapped in that dark tomb to realize how much I needed to hear those words. “You still want that?”
“With everything I am. Even if it’s just our last breaths.”
“Finn,” I whisper. “What if . . .”
“If it never happens?” He kisses my jaw, my cheek, the corner of my mouth. “Abriella, if it never happens, I still get to live in a world that has you in it. And I will relish every moment of that. Even if you’re never mine, I will always be entirely yours. Love like this is worth hoping for.”
“Good,” I say, tears streaming down my face, “because I don’t want to do this without you.”
“Of course.” His hand grips my hip tightly. “It is my greatest honor.”
“I still don’t quite believe I’m the key to all this, that I’m somehow worthy to be queen.”
“You are. There’s not a doubt in my mind. You’ve already saved so many. The children are beginning to wake. The balance of power is slowly being restored.”
“Lark?” I whisper.
He smiles. “She’s been asking about you. You’ve been here, in and out of consciousness for a week. Healing’s been slow, but these last couple of days have been less about your body and more about restoring your magic.”
“What about Jas?”
He strokes his thumb across my cheek and releases a long breath. “She’s recovering, but slowly. All we can do is let her sleep. Her mortal body can only take so much magical healing at once.”
“Where is she?”
“At the Midnight Palace. I can take you to her if you’d like.”
“Please?”
An aching tug in my chest has me lifting my gaze to the doorway. I find Sebastian there, his eyes melancholy as he takes in the scene before him.
“I just wanted to check on you,” he says roughly. “We can talk later.”
Finn shakes his head. “You two need to make plans. I’ll meet up with Kane and finalize the details of the trip into the mountains. Will you be ready by morning?”
Sebastian and I nod together, but I can feel his reluctance. Who can blame him? He’ll be permanently bonded to a female who loves someone else. Finn and I aren’t the only ones making a sacrifice here.
“I’ll return with a goblin after a bit so we can visit your sister,” Finn says. He kisses the top of my head, then climbs out of our rooftop bed.
I watch Finn go before turning my attention to Sebastian. His white-blond hair is tied back at the base of his neck and he’s dressed in a fine black tunic, as if he’s been attending meetings all day. “Thank you,” I say. “Thank you for bringing me to Finn so I could heal.”
His eyes go wide. “I’m the one who needs to be thanking you. You saved me from that tomb. I thought I’d die there.”
“Don’t diminish what you did. We both know this isn’t how you wanted things to turn out.”
Silence stretches between us for a long time, but it’s heavy with everything we’re feeling. I don’t block our bond. Instead, I open to him and welcome it when he opens to me. His grief, heartache, and loneliness are all tinged with something brighter. Relief and . . .
“You’re grateful,” I whisper.
“I promised I’d protect you,” he says, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I meant it.”
“Your mother’s power transferred to you. You hold the power of the Seelie throne. But you’re not there. Why?”
Sebastian hangs his head. “I never just wanted to be king, Brie. I wanted to be a great king. One who could end wars and save innocents. One who made a difference. You made me want that—way back when we were in the human realm. You’d talk about how broken the systems there were, how everything was stacked against the weak and the poor. If I went to the golden court now and took my mother’s throne, I would be king, but the shadow court would be right back where it was when we started all this—weakening without a leader on the throne. I want better than that for these people. Whether you believe it or not, I truly do.”
“I do believe it, Bash,” I whisper. “None of that surprises me.”