Chapter Thirty-Eight
Reign
“I’ll go with Ruhl.”
Aelia stared at me, mouth agape, from across the chamber. Shadows lingered in the corners of our room, a physical manifestation of the turmoil battering my insides. Noxus, when Aelia recounted the details of her encounter with my half-brother, I’d wanted to strangle the fool.
How could he even consider renouncing the throne simply to assume my blood vow? The Shadow Court needed a great ruler, a reliable one, one they were familiar with to lead during these dark times. Why would he do something so stupid and… noble? This was not the brother I knew, not at all.
Unless… My thoughts rushed back in time to the trial he’d undergone with Aelia their second term, the Mirror of Illusions. His mirror-self had claimed he would never take the throne of the Umbral Court. Was this all some elaborate attempt to evade that prediction?
“Reign…”
I blinked and Aelia stood before me, her fingers tangling with my own, anchoring the wild tempest of emotions throttling my lungs. “He cannot go alone,” I muttered.
“He doesn’t have to go at all. And neither do you.”
“And we simply allow this vow to loom over us? Until Father emerges, from only the gods know where, and those dreaded words fall from his lips, forcing me to destroy you?” I shook my head, dark strands of hair falling across my brow. “No. I refuse to live like that, starlight.”
“Then I will go with you, too.”
Taking both her hands in mine, I pressed them against my chest, drawing her closer. “The three of us cannot go, my love. You are much too valuable to Aetheria.”
“And you are too valuable to me.” A swell of emotion rushed our bond—her love, her fear—a desperate tangle breathing life into my weary bones.
“This is exactly why I must go. Don’t you see that?
If we succeed, we’ll finally be free, Aelia.
It’s all I’ve ever wanted, to be free to love you as you deserve, unshackled by blood vows, prophecies, or royal tyrants.
” I loosed a long breath, gaze trapped in hers.
“It’s not that I don’t trust Ruhl to go alone, it’s that the mission is much too important. We simply cannot fail.”
“You won’t,” she breathed, her resignation bleeding through the words. “Just… promise that you’ll come back to me.”
Framing her face with unsteady hands, I whispered, “Always, starlight.” Then I closed the distance between us, brushing my lips across hers.
My shadows erupted from my fingertips, always so eager for her.
The mate bond awoke as well, a relentless beast, illuminating the mystical strands that tied our hearts together.
The kiss was meant to be gentle, reassuring, but as so often was the case, a chaste touch was never enough.
The cuorem demanded more.
My hand fell from her cheek, fingers tangling in the soft hair at her nape to angle her neck for a deeper kiss.
The other hand slid down her torso to find the exposed skin between her tunic and leathers.
Curling my fingers into her hip, I pressed her flush against me, eliciting a tempting moan.
A growl vibrated in my throat at the rush of sensations flowing between us.
A sharp knock cracked through the haze of our bond, slowing the frantic beats of my heart. My jaw tightened as the door creaked open without waiting for permission.
Of course. My brother.
“Am I interrupting?” Ruhl’s shadow slipped through the door first, followed by his looming frame. His eyes darted between us, guilt and something else flashing behind his usual smirk.
I pulled back from Aelia’s lips with a growl still caught in my throat. My shadows recoiled from the intrusion but didn’t vanish entirely. They slithered along the edges of the chamber, restless.
“You always did have impeccable timing, brother,” I muttered, voice low and rough. Even the sight of him couldn’t completely crush the fire Aelia had started.
Ruhl’s smile faltered. “I came to say I’m leaving for Lunaris first thing tomorrow. Mordrin will accompany me to the island, then—”
“No,” I snapped before he could say another word. “You’re not going alone. That is to say, you’re not going without me.”
His brows lifted, surprise flickering across his face. “Reign—”
“I said no.” My tone brooked no argument. “We go together, or not at all.”
Ruhl’s mouth parted, with what was surely an argument, but he closed it again, shadows weaving between his fingertips. “You’re serious.”
“As death.”
Silence stretched between the three of us, a thick, heavy thing. I despised knowing that Ruhl still wanted my cuoré. And yet, I loved him for risking his life for her anyway. It was maddening, this tangle of blood and shadow surrounding us.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair and willing the edge from my voice before continuing.
For Aelia’s sake, if nothing else. “Look, I’ve despised you for most of my life.
Thanks to Father, most likely. You know that as well as I.
But today, you offered to take on a vow that would’ve surely destroyed you.
For her.” My throat tightened. “That’s not something the Ruhl I knew would’ve done. Regardless of the circumstances.”
His eyes narrowed, unsure whether to take the words as insult or praise.
“So, believe it or not, I’m proud of the male you’ve become, little brother.” The words burned my tongue, but regardless, they were true. Even if part of me still wanted to rip his heart out for the way he looked at my mate.
Aelia’s hand squeezed mine, her light rushing through the bond, softening the storm that had begun to brew in my chest.
“You don’t have to do this,” she whispered to me, then to Ruhl. “Either of you.”
“Yes, we do,” I said, voice steady now. “We’re running out of time. The sooner we go, the better.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “I wish I could go with you both, but as my stubborn mate reminded me, someone has to stay and rule the kingdom while you’re gone.
” Her gaze shifted toward me, shining with love and a hint of fear.
“Therefore, I’ll hold the line here, my Shadow Princes,” she said, looking to each of us, “but you must promise me, both of you, that you’ll come back. ”
I brushed my thumb over her knuckles. “We’ll come back. We are bonded for all eternity, remember?”
A soft smile parted her lips before she looked to my brother.
Ruhl nodded slowly, shadows quiet at his heels for once. “We’ll find the Moirai Shard,” he vowed. “And we’ll break the chains that bind Reign to our father.”
“Then the ones that Helroth has tethered to you,” I added.
My heart pounded against my ribs at the words, at the weight of everything pressing down against us. We had no choice now. Tomorrow, we’d leave for Lunaris.
And gods help anyone who tried to stop us.
Moonlight spilled across our bed through the window, silver and cold against the dark sheets. But Aelia’s body, where she lay pressed against my side, was nothing but heat.
Her breath ghosted over my skin, sending sparks down my spine with each exhale. Her fingers traced idle patterns across my chest, across the gleaming mate mark, soft and slow, as if she were trying to memorize me. As if she knew this could be the last night.
And Noxus, maybe it was.
The thought lodged in my throat, sharper than any weapon. My shadows curled beneath the sheets, restless and tense, but I forced them back. Tonight wasn’t for fear. It wasn’t for war or prophecies or blood vows.
Tonight was for her.
For us.
I buried my face in her hair, breathing deeply and taking it all in, everything she was, and imprinting it on every part of me.
She was sunlight and shadow, light and dark, my mate, my cuoré.
“Starlight,” I rasped, my lips brushing her temple.
“If you keep touching me like that, I’m not going to let you sleep. ”
Her fingers dipped intentionally lower, nails grazing over my ribs. “Maybe I don’t want to sleep. Maybe you owe me from earlier when we were interrupted by your brother just as things were getting good.”
I growled softly, the sound vibrating in my chest. It would be a difficult journey tomorrow, and I knew well that surrendering to my desire meant heading out on little to no sleep, because once we started this, there would be no stopping.
Not with the torrent of emotions already simmering between us.
“Careful, princess,” I whispered, taking a moment to memorize every detail of her face.
She tilted her head up, silver-blue eyes gleaming in the dim light, teasing and tender all at once. “What are you going to do about it, professor?”
And just like that, with her playfulness, her love, she shattered all my restraint.
In a blink, I had her beneath me. My mouth swallowed her gasp as I claimed her lips, devouring the ache that had been building in my chest since the moment I’d found Tenebris’s empty cell.
Or perhaps, even longer than that, if I was being completely honest with myself.
She wasted no time. Her hands threaded into my hair, tugging, pulling me closer, as if she wanted to fuse me into her skin. But she already had. The cuorem throbbed between us, beating wildly, a tether of light and shadow tying us together even as fate threatened to tear us apart.
“I’m leaving in a few hours,” I whispered against her lips, voice hoarse. “I should rest…” A flicker of disappointment crossed those blazing orbs, bringing a smile to my face. “But I need this, Aelia. I need you.”
“I’m yours,” she breathed, no hesitation. “Always.”
The words snapped something loose in me. I kissed her like it was the last time. Like I’d never get another chance. My shadows whirled between us, desperate, as if they too sensed it.
My hands slid beneath her thin nightdress, pushing the silk up her thighs.
I savored the way she arched into me, her body soft and molten under my touch.
My lips trailed down her neck, across her collarbone and over her matching mate mark.
I tasted every inch of her, marking her with shadows that only she could feel.
Her nails raked down my back, pulling me closer until not a sliver of space remained between us, and I growled again. This time, the sound was darker, more desperate.
“I want you to feel me even when I’m gone,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to hers so that our breaths mingled. “I want you to remember this.”
Her legs parted for me in unspoken invitation, and I easily nestled between her thighs. Exactly where I belonged.
“I couldn’t forget if I tried.” Her voice broke on a moan as I slid into her, slow and deep, her body welcoming me home.
The world fell away. There was only Aelia. Only this. Us.
We moved together, shadows and light twisting in the air around us. The cuorem pulsed in perfect sync with every breath, every stroke, and every desperate whisper of love against sweat-slicked skin.
“Aelia…” Her name left my lips like a prayer, a promise and a plea. “Gods, I love you.”
“Never more than I love you.”
The minutes slowed to hours as we each took turns worshipping each other, tongues and limbs entwined. And when we shattered together for the final time, our bodies trembling and our souls wrapped tight, I held her close and made the vow through our bond.
I will always come back to you. Even if I have to crawl through every realm of shadow to do it.