Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
Tourmaline
There was a time when I thought being in Crea was the worst place in the entire realm. Crea reeked of darkness—an evil so vile that it licked against my skin each and every day. The people there weren’t much better, their hearts cold and greed palpable.
I hated it. Each and every second.
Until in walked the woman who turned my world upside down.
The woman who slowly shifted Crea into something less dull.
She was a bright full moon in the night sky, but I was so certain she was destined to be nothing more than a shooting star.
That I would only get to have her in my life for a beautiful, fleeting moment.
Then she said the word that changed everything—she asked me why the word Lunaria was tattooed across my arm. All of the pieces clicked into place then. It was as if the years of being stuck in Crea finally meant something, that I had done something right.
And I did. I got that beautifully bright star back to Penyth, back to where she belongs—with a family that cares for her. I was prepared to be there for her in any capacity she needed me in.
If she needed someone to funnel her anger toward, then I’d spark the flame.
If I had to be the guy to make her blush—make her cheeks a soft shade of pink while her eyes blazed—just to get her out of her own mind, then I’d tell her any filthy thought she made me feel.
If she needed a friend…then I’d be the best one she ever had.
But then, for a singular fading moment, she just…needed me.
I wasn’t the man she so desperately wanted to hate—wasn’t the one who flirted with her endlessly. It was just me and her, stuck in a cave together and being honest with each other—with ourselves—for once.
Even with everything going to shit around us, we found our way to each other.
But as soon as I had her, finally had her, she soared through the night sky and disappeared. And I somehow thought Crea was bad…
Nothing could’ve prepared me for this. But it isn’t the physical pain or even the torture Vidaris tries to slash into my mind that guts me. It’s the ache inside of me. The hole in my chest where the bond to Lu used to be.
I haven’t seen her in my dreams—haven’t been allowed to sleep more than an hour at a time.
Everything hurts when she’s not near. I don’t know if she’s safe—if what I did even gave her a chance. And there’s nothing fucking worse than that.
I refuse to believe my sacrifice was for nothing. Not a single piece of me regrets what I did, but it’s the not knowing—it’s the wondering if what I did was enough. If I was enough. Because for her, I would do anything.
A staggering breath heaves from my chest as the blood rain falls from the sky. It’s a constant—filling my lungs with acrid metallic flavor. It strangles my breath, lodging it in my throat and stopping up my nose.
But at least it means Vidaris isn’t here.
In a world without Lunaria, the only good is the crimson rain that suffocates me while Vidaris is away.
A sharp pain pierces my neck, just beneath my jawline. I can turn my head enough to see where the snake embedded itself into my skin—melding with my flesh like a tattoo.
Or…at least I think that’s what happened.
The visions Vidaris puts in my head—the things she makes me watch and see and feel… I don’t fucking know anymore. For all I know, it isn’t even truly there. It could be another one of her games.
My neck strains to look down at myself, the chains around my throat and limbs holding me in place. Out of the corner of my eye, I see where the ink brands my flesh. What’s left of my clothes is so tattered that I can see glimpses through jagged holes.
The ink depicts the same snake I remember slithering toward me, its tail starting at mid-thigh and traveling up the side of my hip. My shirt fell apart early on after being brought here—Vidaris’s shadow handiwork.
It takes everything inside of me to tear my eyes away from the ink with which she marred my skin. It’s in moments like these—when it all begins to become too much—that I picture my beautiful star.
My little princess, with blazing eyes the perfect mixture of green and brown. With her soft lips and blinding smile that rarely makes an appearance. I think of her in my arms, of her safely tucked against my chest and laughing.
A wave of calm washes over me, a familiar warmth that starts within my chest and spreads throughout my body. It’s more comfort than I’ve ever felt picturing her; it almost feels…real.
My eyes flutter closed, and I picture the curve of her lips—the one dimple on her right cheek. The warmth in my body grows as I continue to force myself to remember what she looks like, what she feels and smells like.
All at once, the soft scent of pine and juniper wraps around me, suffocating me, an aroma I would gladly lose myself in. It’s just as I remember it, fiery and strong—just like her. I must be finally losing it if I’m hallucinating already.
But if it’s the only thing that brings me memories of her, I’ll take every fucking hallucination my brain creates. The scent causes the warmth in my chest to spread throughout my body, running all the way to my toes.
Blood still rains down from the red skies, but even the freezing droplets can’t chase away the heat pumping through my veins.
I feel her before I see her.
My eyes blink open slowly—a feat considering it feels like they’ve been filled with sand—and find wide hazel eyes staring back at me. Her beautiful lips are moving, but I can’t make out what she’s saying.
There are no angels in this wasteland, but if there were, this is the only face I would want to see. I’ve never hallucinated like this since being here, but I trace every line and curve of her face, willing myself to remember it when it inevitably dissolves around me.
The angel bends down, her focus set on the chains holding me in place—holding my Essence at bay. I try to move my mouth, to tell her it’s no use. But the iced chains around my wrists are snapped off, a fire in her eyes that I’ve never seen blazing up at me.
Her fingers pause briefly as she gazes down at the burns on my wrists, her stunning face twisting into that delicious, fiery anger I love so much.
My eyes flutter closed, sinking into the memory of that fire being directed at me. I hold onto it, clinging to memories of the ghost in front of me.
“Graylen,” her lovely, raspy voice snaps, finally—finally—reaching my ears. “Look at me. Stay with me.”
She moves to my ankles next, cursing beautifully harsh words as she tugs at them.
“I’m sorry if I’m hurting you,” she mumbles, her voice tense.
But she doesn’t know that my legs are numb. I can’t feel much other than a faint pressure.
It’s a beautiful dream to imagine this is real, that my Lunaria is releasing me from this prison. What a wonderful dream my mind is letting me have. I likely passed out from some torture from Vidaris, or maybe my body simply gave up for the day and allowed me this small reprieve.
Finally, she stands, and warm hands slide onto my face. Without the weight of the chains holding my arms down by my sides, they fly up to her waist, gripping her like the lifeline I so desperately need.
Even if she isn’t real.
It isn’t her—isn’t the woman who became my whole world.
Vidaris has played this game before, sending Lunaria to come rescue me, only to morph into something else.
Sometimes a creature so grotesque I had to swallow down the bile that crept up my throat; other times a version of Lu that I could never get out of my head.
A version where she’s a corpse. Cold and dead.
But this version in front of me is the one that haunts me most of all. The one that looks like her—the one that, for the first time, smells like her. It’s the version that reminds me how far the real Lunaria is from me.
I hold her gaze, and her nostrils flare, a soft growl rumbling from her chest. Blood from the sky streaks down her face, but she’ll always be beautiful to me. Perfect.
“We have to go,” she rushes out, her eyes wide and lower lip trembling.
My gaze drifts to her mouth. I know I’m not being rescued—Vidaris’s tricks have gotten old. Be it her tricks or my own mind slowly deteriorating, I’ll take it. I’ll pretend. If only for a moment, I can fall into this illusion and lose myself in it.
I lean forward, crushing her body against mine as my lips crash into hers. She melts into me instantly, and something changes. The bond between us, the one that’s been hidden and quiet, roars to life.
My tongue slides into her mouth, and she grips my face so hard that it grounds me to this moment. The well of magic that’s been suppressed deep inside of me begins to stir. It reaches for Lu, a thread of her magic tangling with mine.
I rip away from her, my chest heaving.
Everything inside of me freezes. Because the woman I love—my brilliant shooting star—is in the last place I want her to be.
“You’re real,” I rasp.
A tear slides down her cheek, mingling with the crimson rain. It’s a stark contrast to the fury swirling in her gaze—the determination that only my Lunaria could have.
This isn’t Vidaris—isn’t a trick.
Which means we need to get the fuck out of here.