Chapter 58
Heat skimmed my shoulder, tugging me back from a tormented slumber. Blinking, I found moonlight spilling through the curtains of Vaeron’s sleeping chamber. And his hard body molded perfectly to mine.
Phantom whispers of my trauma lingered, curling beneath too-tight skin, lungs refusing to rise.
Stadiel towering over me, hand gripped over the white well in my chest. His fingers becoming my master, controlling me like a puppeteer.
“It was just a dream,” Vaeron whispered against my ear.
How desperately I wished that were the case. That Heraphia still lived. That I hadn’t witnessed further horrors at the hands of the Angel monarchs mere hours before.
“It’s my life that’s the nightmare,” I murmured, sarcastic and bitter.
He huffed a laugh against my skin. But it was hollow, forced, like he was trying to distract me from the terrors that continued to pile up around me.
I wriggled deeper into his embrace, wishing I could close my eyes and sleep until winter. Until the next summer. Until the ache in my heart was no longer.
“Keep that up and we won’t make it outside to see the moon before the trial,” he rasped, his erection stiffening against my back.
Shuffling around, I faced him. “The moon?”
“Tonight is the Goddess Moon,” he told me. “In Sivy, we don’t quite celebrate it like we do in my svaethi, since our crops are seasonal and depend on our Radiant Mother’s blessing.”
“What would we be doing if we were there?” I asked him. Because I wanted to drift to somewhere else, somewhere joyous melodies filled the air instead of herbal smoke.
The corner of his mouth twitched up. “The farmers would gather in their villages, burning offerings to the Goddess for a plentiful harvest. Children would dance and sing. We’d ride from town to town for days, offering blessings over fields.
We’d even get our hands dirty, digging potatoes out of the ground.
Pick beans off their vines. Pull chard from the earth. ”
“But never force them to give us their food,” I added, remembering that the people of his svaethi—our svaethi—did not pay tithes.
Something flashed through his expression before he smoothed it away.
“No,” I protested, reaching up and cupping his cheeks. “What was that?”
His eyes dipped closed, fanning long lashes against his cheeks. “This year might be different.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. He blew out a long breath. “To feed the army…we might have to take it all.”
Guilt wormed its way down our bond. From the shallow rise and fall of his chest, from the way his fingers tightened against my lower back, I knew that he was at war with himself over the action.
Yet another thing forced upon him by his sister.
“Why not pay them?” I questioned.
He let out a scornful laugh. “You’ve been here for a while now. Seen the opulence. The excess. There’s no golden wings left for the army. Only for gems and statues to flaunt the power of Stadiel and Iaoth.”
Never had Vaeron been this vulnerable with me before. Never had he shared so much of the inner workings of the crown.
My heart ached for all that was placed upon him.
He shook his head as if to clear it, then pulled me flush to his body. His dick dug into my low belly. “But I don’t want to talk about them. Or any of that. I want to take you to the tops of the trees and soak in the stars with you.”
Something about the way he said those words, like this might be our last night together, curled unease in my belly.
My breath hitched as he ran his nose along the length of my neck. He inhaled deeply. “Your scent…” He groaned, a low, needy sound that had me melting further into him. Then, as if it pained him, he withdrew. “I have something for you.”
I sat upright, clutching the sheets to my naked form as he slid out of bed. His cock hung heavy between his thighs, tip slick and weeping. With a flick of his wrist, he threw light bubbles into the air, illuminating the space.
Moments later, he produced a folded stack of clothes from his wardrobe.
I crawled forward, accepting them from his outstretched hands. The dark fabric matched the color he typically wore, a deep, dark blue-gray. The silk top draped low, designed to reveal the soft swell of my breasts.
“Arms up,” he directed, and I obeyed, allowing him to slide it in place. The soft material hugged my frame perfectly. He adjusted the single off-shoulder strap, revealing a hidden weave of silver among the folds.
He kissed me then, taking my hands and guiding me off the bed. Once I was standing, he grabbed the second layer. I stepped into the skirt, using him for balance and support as I shifted onto my bad leg.
The twinge of pain was thankfully temporary. After how I’d tweaked it before, I’d worried I’d set my recovery back.
He smoothed the silk over my hips like he was committing the shape of me to memory. “So fucking beautiful.”
His erection throbbed, drawing a similar sensation out of my core. Still naked, he guided me over to a full length mirror to admire myself.
The skirt fell to the floor, a high slit revealing most of my leg.
Small shimmers of iridescence appeared with movement, making the fabric appear to be storming.
The separate pieces left a section of my stomach bare.
The cut of the top accentuated my slender shoulders and prominent collarbones.
With hair mussed from sex and sleep, I took on an almost wild, ethereal air.
Vaeron was right—I did look beautiful.
He pressed a kiss to my neck. “Don’t move. Drink in the sight.” Yet he lingered, staring, and I sensed that his command had been as much for him as it had been for me.
Focus still trained on me, he retreated.
I ran my hands over my body, picturing how the fabric would shimmer in the light as I twirled. How the silver in the sleeve would draw attention to the graceful wingbeats of my arms.
I’d yet to try dancing again. Walking had only recently become normal, without a hitch in my step.
My mate returned with matching slippers. Now fully dressed in leather armor, he knelt, picking up one foot at a time and placing the shoes on me like I was some sort of royalty.
When he looked up at me, he wore the most devastating smile I’d ever seen.
“Let’s go.”
He took my hand and guided us through the silent halls of Thalvireth Palace. The hour was late—or early, I wasn’t sure—and no Angels sought to wander, no doubt resting before the arduous trial. When we emerged into the night, a cool breeze kissed my cheeks.
The cloud forest was not silent. Insects buzzed, frogs croaked, and owls hooted. It was just as alive during the daytime, and yet an entirely different faction ruled. The canopy overhead allowed for the barest flit of the shining stars to peek through.
In that darkness, Vaeron moved to my backside. “We’re going to fly to the top. Stay close to me.”
In a breath, I called on my white wings.
Vaeron hovered in the air, the sharp contrast of his feathers easily visible in the night. With a few flaps, I dragged myself after him. The silk skirt fluttered around my legs as we continued up, up, up into the abyss.
He tilted to the right, and I followed, finding a hollow circle among the trees. With the additional light, branches and torso-sized leaves became visible. The giant trees that held the guard towers Vaeron had pointed out before breezed by.
As we summited the canopy, my breath caught in my throat.
A moon, fat, heavy, and low in the sky, loomed on the horizon. With the perspective of the Skala Mountains, it was enormous, seeming poised to swallow our world. A million stars surrounded it, a million more extinguished by the sheer glow the celestial body exuded.
It was disorienting and devouring like staring into the eyes of something ancient and alive.
“Sylaira,” Vaeron called down our bond, tearing me away from the sight.
Half paying attention, I drifted toward him. He caught my hand and guided me the rest of the way to a large, carved out top of a massive tree.
“This is…” I trailed off as I landed on the endless tightening circles.
“Incredible?” he finished for me.
“Yes,” I breathed, walking one of the age rings in its entirety. An ageless energy hummed beneath my feet. It was almost…spiritual, the experience of being atop the tree. I lifted my face to the moon again, its coolness washing over my skin.
Vaeron watched me as I made another loop around the platform. Like he was hunting me.
I tapped into our bond, seeking his thoughts. But they whipped by, too fast to snatch, and his emotions rested behind a wall of ice.
Finishing my arc, I returned to his side. My mate had banished his wings already, and I let my own go then.
He captured my waist and brought me flush against him, all hard lines where I was soft.
“I love to see you so happy, little fugitive. It is how things should have been all along.” The ache in his voice bloomed in my soul.
His gaze searched mine like he was silently begging for forgiveness for his sins.
“It is,” I replied, because it was true.
Circumstances outside of our control had initiated our hatred of one another.
But everything we’d been through since our mating bond snapped into place, every fight we’d had, every moment Vaeron had proven that his duty was to me now, they had won this moment for us.
Where we were working together instead of against each other. Where we had plans to end the war.
Where I was terrified of what the Goddess might judge during his trial.
Vaeron picked up my free hand and pressed it to the scarred spot over his heart. The other he lifted into the air, threading out fingers together. “Dance with me,” he murmured, drinking me in like his thirst could never be quenched.
At the ball, I’d been forced to accept a dance with Herr Elyriane, even though my knee was still bound and aching. The steps had been painful, and my fear had spiked from how he gripped me and forced me along.
Yet when my mate swayed to the right, I followed without a hint of pain. His smooth movements carried me along, our bodies in perfect harmony.
A small cry swelled in my throat. “I can dance.”
His answering grin brought tears to my eyes. “You can.”
“I never thought it would happen again…”
He tugged me closer, our steps never faltering. “I know, little fugitive. I know. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to move with me like this.”
My nails dug into his tunic. His face blurred. Strong fingers swiped the wetness from my cheeks. “You are so beautiful when you cry, Sylaira. And these tears of joy are far sweeter than the ones of pain.”
He sucked one off his finger, the deep yearning in his gaze holding me hostage.
The next step he faltered, foot catching on something, but he quickly recovered. Without a second thought, the tune to the movements played in my head, as real as if we’d had an orchestra surrounding us.
As if he heard the music too, he spun us, my feet lifting off the ground for the briefest of moments before he set me gently down. Wind hissed over the canopy, fluttering my dress and howling in my ears.
“You’re a fantastic dancer,” I told him. The bright moonlight reflected in his eyes, so piercing it bordered on painful.
Yet I knew this was a moment I would remember forever.
“It helps to have an amazing partner,” he crooned, slowing his pace to execute more complicated steps.
The rest of the world fell away as we danced in the pale moonlight. I hummed the melody to my favorite number, and Vaeron picked up on it. We flowed through the steps together as if they were as natural as breathing. As natural as the bond that was wide open between us.
Breathless, we came to a stop, grinning at one another. Vaeron dropped my hand and tucked my tangled hair behind my ears. His fingers brushed against the studs pierced into them, eliciting a shiver.
“I noticed you wear no other jewelry than these,” he murmured, thumb teasing over my skin before he retreated. From inside his chest plate, he produced a small box. “I know you never got a choice in being mated to me. But Sylaira, I fucking love you.”
He pressed his palm over his heart, face up, and dipped his head.
The Elessarum gesture.
I stood frozen as he dropped to his knees. My vision narrowed to Vaeron alone like the rest of the world had ceased to exist. Our gazes collided like the lightning that had once snapped our bond into being.
As in that moment, I was blinded, the white coin of the moon swallowing everything under its guise.
“Whatever happens at the trial, I don’t want anyone to doubt that you are mine. That I will protect you no matter the cost.”
An edge of steel sliced through the velvet of his voice.
Why does it feel like he’s saying goodbye?
Through our connection, a heady mix of rage and fear formed like an oncoming tempest.
“I want you to have something that Iaoth and Stadiel cannot take.”
He popped open the box, revealing a pale blue stone, elongated with countless facets. Each one reflected a different sliver of pale light. Diamonds in an intricate array surrounded it, and carved into the thick band was the sigil of House R?viel.
“You are mine, Sylaira. My little fugitive. Mind, body, soul. Will you choose me now?”
I studied his face, carved by the Goddess herself. The desperation, the vulnerability, that leaked through the glacial color of his irises. The slight rise and fall of his chest, like he was bracing himself for another rejection.
“Promise me something.”
“Anything,” he swore.
“That you will not keep things from me again. I can’t survive another betrayal.” It was his omission about his betrothed that got us into this situation in the first place.
Something that looked a lot like guilt flashed across his face before he masked it—so fast that I thought I’d imagined it.
“I swear to you that from this day forth, I will not lie to you again.”
Tears turned him into a watercolor as I stretched out my hand. He grasped my fingers and slid the ring onto the middle one of my left hand. Then, he was on his feet, lips crashing against mine. I clutched his sides like he was the last thing anchoring me into this world.
“Goddess, I love you, Sylaira.”
“I love you, Vaeron.” I opened myself fully to him so he could feel the weight of those words. Taste their truth.
Something fractured inside of him. His arms slid around my back, crushing me tighter. His tongue pressed against the seam of my lips, and I opened for him. The kiss turned brutal, claiming.
So very him.
A gong sounded, reverberating through the night. Drumbeats followed, pounding harder than my heart against my ribs. The chain binding us thrummed like it too knew the end was near.
With a growl, Vaeron broke away. White and black flashed at the edges of my vision.
Brows pinched, he stared down at me, tortured. Like this was the final moment we’d ever have alone together.
“It is time.”