Chapter 35 #2
“No. I’m right where I want to be.” He guides me back from him and gives me a once-over. “I’m here for as long as you need me, and even then, I might hang around.”
I stand on my toes and kiss his cheek. “Thank you for always being here for me. Even when my plans seem a little off the wall.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d do anything for you, Elle.”
“And I’d do the same for you.”
“I know.” He gives me a firm smack on the backside. “Now, go find your parah. He needs you.”
I rub my ass and shoot him a glare as I start for the line of trees that border Basecamp.
When I disappear into the thick brush, the death and sorrow found on the training field dissipates a little.
The absence of the moon shrouds me in calm darkness and places the galaxies of stars on center stage in the clear night sky.
Branches hang low like knotted fingers that I hold to keep from stumbling on the rocks.
The babbling of running water draws me closer to the stream’s edge, beckoning me to follow it.
If I walk against the current, I know I’ll find him.
I climb a hill built of flat stones to discover my king sitting at the top. His arms rest on his bent knees and his gaze focuses on the neon light show ahead. He’s more at home here than he ever has been sitting on a throne.
I ease down beside him, leaving an inch of space between us.
I’m not sure what he needs right now, but I’m here when he is ready to tell me.
So we just sit in silence as hues of pink, green, and turquoise blend together in the sky.
The aurora is beautiful and peaceful, quite the contradiction to the emotions that are clashing inside of us.
“I feel a little lost right now,” Kyron says, staring ahead.
“That’s all right, I am too.” I bump my shoulder into his. “But I can take the lead for a while, and I won’t let you wander too far as you work through your grief.”
He turns and takes me in for what feels like the first time since Greer died. I don’t hold it against him. It wasn’t that long ago that I couldn’t see past Micah’s death. Some days it’s still all I think about.
“You’re remarkable. Do you know that? I don’t think there’s anything you’re not capable of,” he says, his tone thick with conviction.
I stretch my arms out behind me, propping myself up on them. “Mountain climbing, cliff diving, and I’m not the girl you go to if you need fruit from the highest branch of a tree.”
He laughs and that brief warm sound is the salve that begins repairing the broken pieces in both of us.
I’m addicted to its healing power. If I could, I’d make it so he would laugh again and again until everything hurtful and tragic slips away and we are left with nothing but burning cheeks and aching stomachs.
“You would find a way to do all those things if your people needed you to do them, Raelle.”
“Maybe. But I would do them without a second thought if you asked me to. No mountain would be too high. I’d conquer it just to see you smile.”
“You’ve already done that.”
I nod, the picture of the temple perched on the high rocky spire flashing in my head.
He closes the space I left between us, his hip nestling against mine. “But what if all I wanted was to be your husband?”
I follow his line of sight to his fingers.
They have been fidgeting with something since before I sat down.
He stops moving them and a simple gold ring sits between his thumb and index finger.
That one delicate loop of metal has the power to stop my heart.
It’s not like we’ve never talked about marriage before, but to see that he holds a symbol of that intention…
This isn’t a daydream about a future spent together.
It’s tangible, as close as my outstretched hand.
“I’ve sat out here contemplating two things,” Kyron says.
“One, the time we have with the people we love the most is never enough. I don’t want to waste a second I have with you, Raelle.
At our end, I want to know I shared every laugh and explored every dark corner of who we are together.
There will be no regrets, not about us.” He cradles my face in his hands and brushes away the tears below my eyes.
“Two, my love for you has grown to outshine everything else in my life, even tragedies like this. When darkness threatens to pull me under and hold me captive, I have a light that leads me home. Greer gave me the gift of continuing to live in that light. Her sacrifice deserves to be celebrated, and I’d like to start by becoming your husband. ”
“My husband,” I whisper.
“Yours. Always yours, princess.”
“Yes. I will be your wife. I want nothing more than to be yours in every single way.”
He slides the ring onto my finger. His hand glides up my arm, and my heart races at the soft caress. The warmth of his palm seeps into the side of my neck as his thumb tilts my chin up. I stare into his obsidian eyes and marvel at the bright flecks of amber burning within them.
His breath brushes over my lips as he says, “I’ll forever strive to gather the stars for you, Raelle.”
“And you will never fight your battles alone, my king.”
I melt into the sweet touch of his lips against mine.
Kingdoms can burn. Power can fade. Crowns can break.
In the end, none of it will matter. This life was meant to throw us in the fire over and over again.
Sometimes we will bend under the raging heat and come close to our breaking point.
But with each new blazing trial, we are renewed.
Past sins are forgiven, weaknesses are transformed into strengths, and the love we choose through it all is refortified.
It becomes the kind of love so powerful that it transcends this life and the next. And it always prevails.