Chapter 16 #2
Auraelia squeezed her eyes closed, forcing a tear to escape from her lashes and roll down her cheek.
As he wiped it away, her eyes fluttered open, and he watched as her softened gaze turned into one of fierce determination, and the walls rose around her heart.
Though not as thick as they had been over the last few months, the fact that she was so sure that she needed them around him was a slap to the face.
But he took a deep breath and let it go…
for now. He couldn’t force her to face what was between them; it would only push her further away, and that was the opposite of what he wanted.
And if the Goddess Narissa was to be believed, it was the opposite of what Ixora needed.
“Caius said that he would give us all of the inside information on Davina. What she’s like. What makes her tick. The ins and outs of her abilities.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient.” It came out harsher than he intended, and the slight recoil from Auraelia had him reaching for her hand.
“I’m sorry. I just meant that it’s awfully convenient that the emissary from the court currently trying to overthrow you and demolish my own court would want to give you exactly what you need to bring down the threat. It doesn’t sit right.”
When she sighed, it seemed to be weighed down with every worry on her mind.
“You think I haven’t thought about that?
You think I haven’t asked myself a hundred times why he would be willing to help me?
I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s the only real lead I have to work with right now.
And I… I’d like your support in pursuing that avenue. ”
“Auraelia, you’re a queen. You don’t need the support of a prince.”
“I’m not asking you as a prince, Daemon. I’m asking you as someone I lo—trust. This affects you and your people just as much as mine.”
Daemon couldn’t help the way his lips pulled up at the corners. She almost slipped.
Almost.
That little hint of the word she refused to say before she switched to ‘trust’ gave him more hope than it probably should have, but he couldn’t help it.
Progress.
“You want my support, Princess? You have it.”
A smile took over her lips, lighting up her face despite the fact that dusk had turned into nightfall. The stars shone like diamonds overhead, but even their light was diminished compared to the stardust dancing in Auraelia’s eyes.
Daemon fell back onto his back, staring up at the dark sky as the sounds of crickets and the trickling of water over rocks as it flowed into the lake filled in the silence that was settling between them.
Then, for the second time that day, Auraelia surprised him by laying her head on his chest and gazing up at the stars with him.
His heart slammed against his ribs like a blacksmith hammering out the steel of a sword.
As time passed, the once slightly awkward silence became comfortable.
It was just…easy. Lying there together, just staring up at the sky.
He hadn’t even realized that he’d started running his hands through the loose strands of her hair that were fanned across his chest. Auraelia was quiet, her breathing so even that Daemon thought she’d fallen asleep.
But when a star shot across the sky with a tail of pink-hued light trailing behind it, she gasped and sat up abruptly, eyes wide as she kept them pointed toward the sky.
“Did you see that?” she asked, awe lacing every word.
Daemon chuckled, then pushed up onto his elbows. “I did. It was quite pretty.”
“Pretty? It was magical.” Prying her eyes away from where the shooting star had once been, a delicate flush colored her cheeks as she met his gaze. “Do you know what a shooting star means? Here, I mean. In Lyndaria.”
When he shook his head, she continued. “It’s said that when a star shoots across the sky in the presence of a…a couple… it’s the Goddess Rhayne smiling down on them and sending them her blessing.”
Her flush deepened as she finished her story, and Daemon couldn’t help the wide smile that took over his lips. “Oh, really?”
He’d known that both Rhayne and Narissa blessed their relationship. Knew that they were soulmates and destined to be together, in this life and every other. But Auraelia seeing that sign and having her acknowledge it and explain what it meant, gave him yet another piece of hope.
Auraelia’s face was now the color of a winter berry, and she could scarcely hold his gaze, her flush deepening every time they locked eyes.
When a frosty breeze blew across the lake, sending a shiver down both their spines, Daemon stood and extended his hand toward her. “Would you like to head back?”
Grabbing her boots, she slipped her hand into his, the warmth of her magic tangling with his as soon as their skin connected.
After helping her to her feet, Daemon stepped into her frame and lifted her chin, forcing her gaze up to his face. “Thank you for letting me in, Auraelia. It means more than you know.”
Her answering smile was incandescent, and then, before he knew what was happening, she pushed onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. When she pulled away, a sheepish smile was on her lips, and her face was flushed once more. “I never should have shut you out to begin with.”
“Killian, what are you doing here?” Astraea asked, her arched brows drawing together at the center.
Another dream, it’s just another dream.
She was slightly older in this one than she had been in the others.
Her chestnut hair was no longer glossy but instead held a dull sheen, like life was draining the color from it.
Daemon closed the distance between himself and Astraea, his legs moving of their own accord.
When he was in front of her, his hands cupped her cheeks, and his lips met hers in a hungry desperation.
When she didn’t move in response, he felt his heart sink. But the moment passed faster than it lingered, and it wasn’t long before her hands were tangled in his hair, and she was pulling him with her through a previously closed door.
Pressing her against the wall, he slid his hands down her sides and lifted her from the floor, her legs wrapping around his waist on instinct.
But when she cupped his face in her hands, the cold bite of metal met his cheek, and he pulled away, letting her body slowly slide down his until her feet hit the floor.
“You’re engaged.” The words came from his mouth, but he knew it wasn’t him who spoke them.
“Killian, you knew this was going to happen. You’re married, for goddess’ sake, and you’re going to criticize me about being engaged?”
Slowly, Daemon’s gaze trailed down to his left hand where a woven band of metal encircled his finger, then over to where a delicate band of silver sat on Astraea’s, topped with an aquamarine stone that matched the color of her eyes.
It wasn’t his life, but there was no mistaking the crushing grief that filled his chest. Or the heartbreak that he was all too familiar with.
Killian ran his hands through his hair, gripping the strands tightly at the roots before releasing them.
“It’s not fair!” he shouted through gritted teeth.
“You’re mine, Astraea! We both know it! Fuck, anyone who sees us together knows it!
It doesn’t matter how hard we try to hide it or how careful we are; it’s as clear as day when we’re together. ”
Astraea twirled her engagement ring around her finger, her eyes downcast as she said, “I know, which is why we can’t see each other anymore.”
Killian quickly closed the gap that had formed between them and grasped her shoulders, his voice cracking as he pleaded with her. “Don’t say that. You can’t mean it. I can’t live without you, my star. Please, don’t do this.”
Tears began to stream down her face, her eyes rimmed in red when they finally met his.
“I don’t want to. Goddess, how I wish I could run away and just be with you, but we can’t, Killian.
We can’t. Our people, all of Ixora, have been through enough as it is.
We can’t uproot the peace that was just instilled. It would be selfish.”
Daemon could feel the tears filling Killian’s eyes. Could feel their warmth as they slipped down his cheeks. “I wish I had never signed that damned treaty.”
Astraea nodded, her lip trembling as she said, “So do I, my love. So do I.”
It was nearly daybreak when the sound of Auraelia muttering in her sleep pulled Daemon from his dream. He could still feel the ache in his chest from the heartbreak he’d just relived. Heartbreak that was bound to repeat itself if he couldn’t break through to her.
As she began to toss and turn, Daemon gently shook her shoulder. “Auraelia. Auraelia, you’re dreaming. Wake up.”
When she still didn’t stir, her eyes pinched tightly closed as her dream continued, he tried a different approach. Sending a quick prayer to the Goddesses of Arcelia that it wouldn’t backfire on him, Daemon pulled her into his arms and whispered, “My star, it’s just a dream. Come back to me.”
He placed a gentle kiss on her brow, and slowly, her body relaxed into his. Her face was pressed into his chest, and he began to run his fingers in featherlight touches along her spine.
A contented sigh slipped between her lips as she nuzzled into him. “I missed that.”
Her voice was still full of sleep, but his heart leaped in his chest as she pressed her body closer to his, looping her leg over his.
“Missed what, exactly?”
“Missed hearing you call me ‘my star’. It hurt every time you said Auraelia, but it hurt more to hear that. I didn’t feel like I deserved it anymore. That you deserved more—deserved better.”
“And now?” Daemon asked, hope filling his chest.
She still seemed to be half asleep, but he’d take her uninhibited thoughts over the ones she constantly turned over in her head, any day. When she didn’t answer, he nudged her gently. “Auraelia?”
“Hmmm?”
Daemon chuckled and changed the subject. “What were you dreaming about?”
His question seemed to bring her further into consciousness. Pulling out of his arms, Auraelia slowly pushed up on the bed into a kneeling position and wiped the sleep from her eyes, yawning as she said, “It—um. It was nothing.”
Daemon matched her position, his knees brushing against hers as he tilted her chin up so that he could look her in the eyes. “It wasn’t nothing, Auraelia. I’m pretty sure I know exactly what it was.”
“You do?” she asked, raising her brow as her head canted to the side.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you’ve been having strange dreams. Ones that feel more like memories. Am I close?”
Her eyes widened at his words, her head slowly bobbing up and down in confirmation.
“I have them, too. I just had one, actually, and if I’m being honest, it wasn’t too pleasant of a memory.”
“Memory? I thought it was just a dream.”
Daemon shook his head and took her hands in his. “They’re memories, Auraelia. Ones from five hundred years ago, when our ancestors were…involved. Do you want to talk about what happened?”
When she nodded, Daemon waited patiently for her to continue.
“I—she was in the ballroom here in the castle. People were all around, everyone watching the man in front of her. It was an engagement party. He’d just asked her to marry him, and she’d said yes.
” Auraelia’s nose wrinkled as if she were the one marrying the man in her dream, and the thought was repulsive.
Which when he thought about it, in a way, she had married that man.
“Anyway,” she continued after blowing out a breath.
“Shortly after she said yes, she excused herself from the party. I could feel everything she did, and everything about it felt wrong. She didn’t want to marry him but felt like she had to for her people.
Then, as she was walking down the hall toward her chambers, a man… Killian…appeared from the shadows.
“He kissed her, and I remember her being shocked that he was there. He wasn’t supposed to be; she didn’t want him there to see her get engaged. Told him to stay away. But as soon as his lips were on hers, everything felt right. Like the stars aligned, and everything was as it should be.”
At the small smile on her lips, Daemon interrupted her story. “I think I know how the rest went.”
“Really? How?”
Daemon stroked her cheek, his gaze soft as he stared into the swirling storm of her eyes. “Because mine started where Killian showed up in yours.”
Auraelia’s eyes widened, and he could see the wheels spinning in her mind, trying to piece together—and make sense of—everything that had just happened.
Her brow was scrunched in confusion, her head shaking slowly from side to side as she tried to process everything.
“But—why? How? That doesn’t make any sense. ”
“Doesn’t it?” he asked, imploring her to see beyond the surface to the meaning behind the memories.
He wanted her to come to the realization on her own.
Didn’t want to burden her with yet another secret.
But, then again, it was another secret being kept from her, and he hated that it was one he was keeping.
When she didn’t answer, Daemon released a breath. “Auraelia—”
He’d barely gotten her name past his lips when there was a pounding on the door outside her suite, both of their heads swiving toward the noise. Before Auraelia could voice them to enter, Piper barreled into the room. Her eyes were wide, and she breathed heavily as she leaned against the doorframe.
“Your Majesty. Auraelia—” she said between pants. “I’m so sorry, but we’ve got to go. Davina is going to attack the city.”