AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The elementals, learning of his early freedom, would wish to see them both put to death for the crime. They would have to stand against the elementals, united with his iron army, and defeat them. And this time, there would be no third Iron Crystal waiting for them. He would put them in the grave instead.
Avalon would choose new elementals in time. It always did. And those would have to be dealt with as they made their motivations known.
But for a time, the death and war would lead to peace. Gwendolyn would be safe from harm—free to be with him. A veritable Queen of Avalon.
He smiled faintly. I would finally have my throne. But it would be built from bone and ash. Would that make me no different than Grinn, in the end? No. Grinn sought the destruction of all Avalon. Mordred would seek only the death of the elementals.
A hundred lives, versus tens of thousands.
Shutting his eyes, he let out a sigh, feeling the tiredness encroach on him. It had been a very long day, and it was late into the night now. They had one more day and one more night to spend together before it would be up to Gwendolyn to decide what to do.
He could not strike now. Gwendolyn would never agree to such seemingly wanton destruction.
No, she had to make the choice. Between his imprisonment and his freedom. Between peace and war. Between the lives of others and their life together.
He would be certain she understood what would come to pass if she made good on her half-conscious vow to save him.
But there was one thing now in his mind that was made very clear. He was the bastard everyone believed him to be. He was the portrait of a dark, cruel lord that the peasants painted of him. Why?
Because he would see them all reduced to dust before he parted with the woman in his arms.
But he could not pull her into the darkness after him.
She had to follow.
We shall wait and see, my love, if your heart will turn dark enough to see it done.
I, for one, pray that it shall.
TWENTY-TWO
Gwen didn’t know what to do with herself when the sun rose on their last day together for a thousand years. Mordred was still asleep, which gave her time to lie there and watch him without the weight of the world pressing on him. It took the age out of his features, the creases by his eyes and in his brow that were always there when he was awake.
God, he was so damn handsome.
She couldn’t help but reach out and gently stroke the line of his cheekbone. How could she say goodbye to him? How could she be without him for a thousand years? It felt like nonsense—just as much as his age felt like nonsense. Nobody could be that old. Nothing could last that long. It was just a number. It didn’t feel real.
Not until right now.
Not until she was staring down the reality that she might not see him for a thousand fucking years.
There had to be a way to stop it. Somehow. Maybe she could plead with Zoe—fall on her knees and weep and say that she loved him, so Zoe couldn’t go through with it.
Yeah, well, Mordred kept Galahad and Zoe apart for three hundred years.
“You are scheming,” Mordred muttered. It almost made her jump in surprise.
“Badly,” she chuckled, leaning in to kiss him. “Morning.”
He grunted and rolled onto his back. “It is deeply ironic to me that I slept well last night.”
“Maybe you just needed to tire yourself out.” She smirked and pushed herself up onto her elbows to watch him.
“Perhaps. Or perhaps you are the cure for my sleeplessness.”
Her smile faded. “For as long as it matters.”
His eyes opened and focused on the ceiling, swirling rusted colors that changed as she watched. “Yes.”
