My beautiful, sweet Seren.
I bent beside her and took her into my arms.
Her face was pale, her lips nearly tinted blue.
And her heartbeat was a faint, barely-there echo.
She was dying. The closer she got to death, the deeper the rip went through me.
She was being torn away.
I took her hand in mine, but her skin was like ice.
I pressed her fingertips against my lips. “I love you, Seren.”
I would love her forever.
My throat constricted.
If I had to live an immortal life, if I had to watch everyone I loved die, then why couldn’t I have more time with her?
“I don’t want to live without you,” I whispered, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her cold lips.
I had to take the oath. Now, or I’d lose her forever.
Agony ripped through me at the thought.
I had a kingdom to take back. A war to stop.
A duty to my people.
But none of it would mean anything … without her. She had given me what no one else could—a love so deep and real that it had become a living, breathing thing between us. In spite of our prejudices. In spite of logic.
Tears—gods, how long has it been since I last shed tears?—cut down my cheeks as I cupped her face in my hands.
The bond wasn’t magic, love was. Love had made the bond real. Without it, without her, my reason for existing would fade away.
The Seidr’s warning had held me back but there was no time left to wonder what might happen. To ask questions.
“You must take the oath,” Lucia had said. “Use this. Search the memory I showed you. You’ll find you remember.”
The memory Lucia had shown me floated through my mind as I took out the amulet and placed it around us both. Tears filled my eyes.
“This world isn’t worth being in without you, Seren. I want you.” I leaned my forehead against her temple. “Please come back to me.”
I closed my eyes, letting my mind wander to Lucia’s altar, when she’d shown me the moment when Seren had taken the oath.
She’d shown me the oath and …
… I remember it clearly.
My hands trembled as I unsheathed the dagger. The Seidr’s warning clawed at my mind.
This would unleash something inside her, but if I did nothing …
Her breath was a ghost of sound.
Damn the Seidr. Damn fate. I would not let her go.
