Never would he want another. She would be his one and only.
His last.
He stirred the air overhead with his finger, churning the magical universe until the stars rained from the ceiling and perished before hitting the bed. Naught more left than the original white ceiling with shadows cast by the deep evening hour. Somehow, Cael had kept Cassy away. Whether his brother suspected his intentions when he left abruptly or he simply deterred his woman’s mind from checking on her best friend, he was silently grateful for the time alone. For ’twas a gift. Time. Of which he had little left, like the spelled stars snuffing out as the last few fizzled away.
Careful not to wake Rori, he turned to face her, sinking deeper in the bed to bring himself close. Her soft lips were swollen and deep pink, an hour since his last kiss. Goddess, how he wanted to wake her with another kiss. An eternity of kisses, touches, delight. He gently slipped a lock of hair that had caught on her bottom lip away, smoothing it to the back of her head. The faint spray of freckles across her narrow nose stood out against the lightness of her skin, small marks he would have found disturbing on anyone else, but on his woman, he adored them. She fit so perfectly beside him, as she had fit so perfectly around him. Her small frame was lost in his embrace, imbuing a ferocious protectiveness in his soul.
She was so fragile, yet she was fierce.
She gave herself to him completely and without restraint.
“Matters not what little my future holds, never shall Icurse you to suffer in yours,” he whispered, helpless to stop from tracing her delicate jaw.
Goddess, how his heart overflowed. A fullness he’d never believed possible until he crossed her path. The emotions and sensations had overwhelmed him in those first couple of days, making it difficult for him to decipher while unable to comprehend the significance. He’d been conditioned to feel naught aside for his obsession for Daeanna. Until Rori. She had been a blinding beacon in the blackest of nights, shocking his system and leaving him reeling. He sought comfort in what he knew: how to close himself off to all emotions and embrace coldness.
With each encounter, she melted him until he held no ice in his heart. She had conquered centuries of conditioning in a matter of days. A Goddess-given blessing.
And a vicious curse.
For ’twas Rori who made him open his eyes and realize just how lost he’d become. ’Twas Rori who made him realize how much of an object he had been for centuries. ’Twas Rori who made him realize what it meant to give one’s self to another because of sincere desire.
She had given herself, trusted him, enjoyed him, and did it all without motive. ’Twas a hard sensation to explain, but laying with Rori feltreal, not like a transaction.
Daeanna’s time came at a price: his loyalty for pleasure in her bed.
How foolish a Fae.
“You’ve fallen far from your youth.”
Shaye’s disappointed words from that fateful battle rang in the back of his mind. The corners of his mouth fell, a sour essence creeping through his gut.
Shame. For Shaye had spoken unfiltered truth in that single statement, only Thaddeus had been too blinded, toostubborn to realize it. Alas, now he understood Shaye’s devotion to Moira. Why his old friend went to the extremes he did in order to protect his woman and right the wrongs done to him. How easy ’twas to sacrifice himself for the sake of hisanamcara.
Thaddeus would give his life without a second thought for Rori.
No changing the past, but embrace the short future before ’tis no more.
Willing his dagger close, he guided the tip of the blade to his palm and drew it in a steady line from heel to pinky. Blood welled and began to trickle across his skin as he lowered his hand to rest over Rori’s. Honey-thick golden light blazed to life within him, pouring through his veins, heating his body as the magic of an impending blood bond seeped from his bleeding wound into Rori’s skin. His soul cocooned her with its magic. The stinging pain of no reciprocation stabbed a thorn deep in his heart, but he consumed the ache and buried it deep.
’Twould be a sacrifice he’d suffer in silence.
“I give you my promise in blood,mostorín. I am your shield and your sword. I’ll protect you, whatever the cost, whatever the consequences. As long as my heart still beats and breath fills my lungs, I’ll bear all punishments to know you’re safe. I will cherish you until my life is no more. You shan’t have to worry whether you are safe with me, for your safety is guaranteed.”
The shimmering gold that encircled their hands faded as his wound healed. A new fullness settled in his chest. A battling lightness from his promise and a heaviness with the knowledge that his time was coming to an end. He tipped his head and rested his lips against her forehead, lingering as hebreathed in her sweet scent, now mixed with a heady thread of desire and pleasure.
“Sleep, my preciousanamcara. Bear no regrets from this eve.”
A small dose of sleep magic aided him as he slipped from beneath her head and off the bed. His muscles tingled with residual weakness. Her scent imprinted on his skin, inside his nostrils, inside his head. Her taste lingered on his tongue, the sound of her cries as she shattered haunting his ears. He ran his tongue across his lips, savoring her in those moments as he stared down at her sleeping figure. Precious. Perfect. A universe of all his hopes and desires in a small, delicate package.
She’d come too late.
Turning his back to her fractured his spirit and twisted his heart. He manifested his clothing onto his body, pulled his hair back, and sifted from a place where he’d found true peace and tranquility to the bowels of one dark hellscape.
“Rori!”
The dreamless serenity that had held her in its revitalizing embrace shattered. For a few moments, she allowed her mind to wake, her surroundings to come into focus. The familiar scent of warmth and spice greeted her like a summer sun’s kiss. Her mouth lifted at the corners and she fought the sleepiness to open her eyes the same moment her hand reached out for Thaddeus.
Her palm hit the empty pillow.
