24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
Celestine’s fire burned as I exited the cave tunnel, but I didn’t see her.
“Seer! Please, I have need of you!” My voice broke and I hugged myself. My chest, my throat, and my soul burned.
“Yes, my dear. You will need me more than you know.” She slowly appeared in the dark mist, her robe dragging along the grass with her little owlish kitten batting at the material.
“Why didn’t you warn me Rune was my mate? Or that my father would accept the engagement for me?” I fell to the ground, my fingers sliding into the grass, nails in the dirt as if touching the earth would release me from the grips of this dream reality.
“Welcome, young prince,” Celestine purred and I scrambled around my mouth open. I came alone, I hadn’t heard anyone.
Rune was there, standing in the clearing of the cave, his gaze locked on me.
“Rune, I...”
What did I say? Would he believe me?
Faster than I could follow, he dropped to the ground and pulled me into his arms.
“I didn’t accept. I don’t know what—” The burning inside me burst free. Tears fell and soaked into his shirt. My fingers gripped him as he pressed me against his chest, a hand cradling the back of my head. His thumb moved in soothing swirls behind my ear.
“I know,” he said, his voice so strong, so unwavering.
“This is not an easy path destiny has placed you two upon,” the seer said and the whistling of a teapot had my head lifting. Rune kept me close as we watched Celestine pour us both a cup of tea.
“You’re playing a game that was set up long ago. Both of you have a powerful fate, but it must not be rushed. There will be great love, and great suffering.” She frowned and set the tea beside Rune.
Did Rune know who Celestine was? The seer of Crysia? He grabbed a teacup, lifted it to his nose, and sniffed before handing it to me.
If he did know, he still didn’t trust her.
“What do we do?” I was so lost, so confused.
The seer’s head tilted. “There is much that needs uncovering, and delicately. It is not wise to break the engagement right away.”
My chest ached. Not break off the engagement?
I drank the tea, and the warmth soothed my trembling insides.
“To do it now would rush a terrible evil,” she said with a frown. “That is a future we do not want. I’m sorry my dears.”
“For how long?” Rune asked and it took me a moment to understand his question. How long am I engaged to his brother?
“A month.”
That wasn’t too bad, right? We were immortal. One month would breeze by.
“We must keep the bond a secret?” he asked and Celestine nodded with a cup blocking the lower half of her face.
“Indeed, young prince.”
Rune looked at me, his gaze searching, asking so many questions in those depths. He found the answers when he leaned in to press a kiss to my forehead.
“So, it’ll work out in the end?” I gulped and faced the seer. I wanted to know despite fearing the answer.
“Trust the journey, my dear. For in the darkest of days to come, faith that your path will lead you to a brighter future may be all that stands between you and the end.”
The seer turned and faded into the mist. The conversation was over.
Rune’s hands rubbed my back, and I curled into his arms.
“I understand if this is too much for you,” I croaked out. “We’re mates. I know what that means but we don’t know each other. It’ll be so painful, and the wait…”
In the blink of an eye, calloused fingers lifted my chin, and lips claimed mine.
“I’ve lived many years and there are few certainties in this life,” he said, voice firm and unyielding. “This bond between us is one of them.”
My heart skipped a beat.
He heard it and the corners of his lips lifted an inch.
“I know your soul as well as my own. You are a warrior as I am. We are one, and I will wait for you, fight for you, with you.” The breath in my lungs stilled as he continued to dig his words into my chest like a weapon and claim my heart as his prize.
“One month.” He pressed a kiss to my lips with a smile. “One year.” Another kiss. This time I breathed him in, my fingers winding up his chest to snake through his black hair.
“However long it takes, my moon.”
I laughed. “My moon?”
How did this fierce male make me laugh this much? He was so scary, and yet so… soft.
“Yes, my moon.” He smiled against me, my laughter amusing him.
Whatever. Considering what the moon was to him, I didn’t push it. Hopefully, he’ll explain it one day. We’d have plenty of time to come once we made it past the next month.
“One month and you’re mine,” I said into his mouth.
We kissed for another minute or two, before I pulled back and rested my head against his chest once more.
“Tor is a good male,” I murmured. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Honorable, and I promise to wait before claiming what’s mine.” His hips shifted and I gasped. My hips rolled against him instinctively and his face lit up.
“This will be hard, won’t it?” I sighed and untangled myself from him to stand on my own.
Rune followed and caressed the side of my cheek.
“Think of it as sweet foreplay, my needy princess.”
I was needy, and this would suck in so many ways.
Rune gestured for me to walk out of the cave first and gave me one last kiss in the darkness before we separated to take on our roles in the public.
Sapphira of Crysia, future wife of Prince Tor, and sister-in-law to Rune.
What a mess.