My knees buckled and I fought to wake, the misty place dissolving as my dark angel released me.
No. Not mine. Never mine.
No. Gods. “I—I can’t—”
Couldn’t imagine a life without him. Couldn’t imagine the emptiness. Couldn’t imagine the agony of giving him up. Because now I must.
Because now I knew hisrealname, not the girlish moniker I’d given him as a teen when I realized ‘dark angel’ was melodramatic.
Slowly, so slowly, I turned.
And stared into blue, blue eyes.
Darkan sighed. If I was frantic in my panic, he was frozen in his weariness. His disappointment.
“Never make decisions out of fear, Aerinne. Remember when you are ready. And take the white flag.”
The acrid stench of burning flesh and scorched stone filled my nostrils. Stars glittered in a crown around an ebony head and my vision focused.
“Congratulations,” the Prince said in his death voice, his hand cupping the back of my neck when I blinked awake, “you have distinguished yourself by your success in annoying me.”
The pressure of his fingers slowly cut off my air. When had he pulled me to my feet? Why couldn't I remember. . .there was something I desperately needed to remember.
I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to push through pain. I had to remember. I almost sobbed with the force of the need.
So weak,a feminine voice murmured.So easily manipulated.
Renaud's power pressed against me, warning me not to move. As if I could with his arm locked around my torso.
He lowered his mouth to my ear. “So I will make you another offer, as I am aware you would rather die than bend the knee, and I find myself uninterested in either your death or the further thinning the populace of my city. . .I did not expect the wyverns. Manuelle and I will soon discuss his decision making process. He forgets himself.”
Renaud waited. I was tempted beyond anything to answer him with a blow to his teeth, but again I had to rise above my own nature. Failure lasted a very long time. I might not be able to kill him now, but one day. . .
“Your offer, Prince?”
“Accept a white flag. Cease all hostilities and meet me at the negotiation table, the High Lord of each House and their Heirs and commanders. We will resolve this dispute through diplomacy.”
I stared, my brows creased. “I—I don’t think we understand the word diplomacy in the same way.”
His eyes flashed, but for once I wasn’t being sarcastic.
“Understand this to be a highly unusual concession, Aerinne, anddo not be a fool.”
My head ached. My entire body ached. I almost couldn't think past the burn. Worst injuries ever, burns. Everything inside me screamed that I was forgetting something, but I had to push that away in order to focus. Terreille had told me—if there came a point where accepting a white flag made sense, do it.
We weren't going to win this. The wyverns were vanquished. We had no other tricks. My need for vengeance was the dust of ground bones. Maybe that was why the Prince took the time to beat me down—he'd known I'd only concede on the verge of death.
I didn't fear dying.
But I wanted to live. I wanted my people to live.
I remembered my mother's words. I closed my eyes. She would want me to do this. Baba would want me to do this.
“What say you?”
I couldn't quite bring myself to say the word submit. I wasn't that selfless. But I nodded.
“You willbethere, Aerinne,” he added, voice deepening. He released me.
