“No, wait!” she calls again, closing the distance faster than I expect.
Her hand reaches up, dirt and all, cupping the side of my face with a gentleness that makes me freeze.
The moment her hand touches my skin, something fierce awakens within me, a surge of heat that rushes through my veins, burning away the cold, hollow darkness that has lived in me for so long.
I see it then, the golden threads, delicate yet unbreakable, curling from her fingertips like living tendrils of sunlight. They wind their way across her hand, flowing to where her skin touches mine. The light is blinding yet soft, a warmth that seeps into the marrow of my bones, illuminating every darkened place inside me. It chases the shadows from my vision, filling the void with something pure, something I feel with every fragment of my fractured soul. It is as if it knows me, as if it hasalwaysknown me.
She is not just a human. She is mine.
Amara Tyne is my salvation. My ruin. Mymate.
The realization strikes me with the force of a storm, wild and uncontrollable, and I fight the instinct to claim her then and there. My fingers ache with the need to touch her, to pull her closer, to feel every inch of her against me. The beast inside me howls, clawingat the walls of my control, demanding that I give in, that I take what is mine by right, by fate, by the threads that tie our souls together.
I swallow hard, my gaze fixed on hers as she meets it without hesitation. Yet, in the reflection of her eyes, there’s no trace of the golden threads. Am I the only one who can see them? Still, I’m almost certain shefeelsthem. Her lips part slightly, her brow knitting in quiet confusion, as though she’s trying to piece together what’s unfolding between us.
It’s too much. It’s not enough. The need to savor this moment wars with the instinct to escape it. I grip her wrist gently, holding her hand in place, and the threads pulse brighter, as if recognizing the act.
“What are you?” I whisper, my voice rough, trembling under the weight of the question, but the threads don’t answer. They simply shimmer, binding us tighter, burning with the truth I’m too afraid to speak aloud.
“I could ask you the same question,” she replies.
My mind whirls, a storm of disbelief and dread. This cannot be. I have waited centuries, endless, hollow centuries, for a mate, for the one who would complete me, who might pull me from the abyss of my loneliness. But I have feared this moment just as much as I have longed for it.
I am cursed. Anyone I love is destined to die. This is my birthright, my inescapable fate, and, as if the gods weren’t cruel enough, she is human. Yet now I see clearly that she is more than that. She is what Eryndor feared, what he warned me against. Awakened, and a human Awakened cannot be allowed to live.
My other hand drifts behind my back, smoke curling in the air like an unholy whisper, pooling into solid form around my fingers. The dagger materializes, cold and familiar, the hilt fitting perfectly into my grip. One strike, swift, precise, between her ribs and into her heart. It would be over before her next breath. One act of mercy to spare her from a lifetime of suffering, from the curse that would destroy her if I made her mine.
I gaze numbly at her, the world narrowing to the touch of her hand and the weight of her presence. My eyes fall to the cascade of her hair, and I see it now. Brown, but not simply brown. It’s the deep, earthy hue of forest soil after a rain, rich and alive, catching the light in glimmers of gold and auburn as it tumbles over her shoulders and her eyes—gods above and below, her eyes—are endless. Dark as night but flickering with flecks of copper that shimmer like sunlight streaming through autumn leaves. There’s a depth to them, as ifthey hold secrets older than the trees around us, as if they’ve seen me—truly seen me—in a way no one else ever has.
Make it quick.
Suddenly, movement stirs in the trees behind us, drawing her attention. Her hand slips from my skin as she turns, breaking the fragile connection that had tethered me to this moment. Her scent lingers in the air, wildflowers and earth, a breath of life that fills my lungs one final time.
When she turns back to look for me, I am already gone.
Arax waits for me on the ship, his eyes scanning the skies as I descend and land deftly beside him.
“My prince. Did you find her?”
I stride past him without so much as a glance. “Yes, and Eryndor has accomplished nothing but wasting my time.”
Arax falls into step behind me. “So she is not Awakened?”
I move past the Reapers standing at attention along the deck, each of their heads bowed in deference.
“No,” I say curtly, gripping the wooden frame of my cabin door as I stop, still refusing to meet his questioning gaze. “She is human. Nothing more.”
He exhales slowly, relief evident in the sound. “This is good news. The king and queen will be pleased to avoid the complications of dealing with another Awakened.”
I nod, swallowing the ache rising in my throat. “Send a Blade to House Maledannan. Have them inform Eryndor that the girl is nothing to be concerned with.” My voice drops lower. “In fact, tell him to forget about her completely. Let her live in peace.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Arax’s brow furrow in curiosity, but he doesn’t press. “Very well, my prince.”
The stomp of his boots echoes across the deck as he gives my orders. Moments later, the sharp sound of wings slicing through the air signals the messenger’s departure. Without another word, I step into my cabin, slamming the door behind me.
A full bottle of rum sits on the table, and I waste no time grabbing it, wrenching the cork free, and throwing back a long gulp. The burn scorches my throat, but it dulls the edge of the emotions clawing at me. Emotions that linger far too long to be dismissed as fleeting.
No matter how I try to convince myself otherwise, I cannot ignore the truth. It thrums in my veins, as undeniable as the runes etched into my skin. After centuries of searching, I have found her. And she is more radiant and pure than I ever imagined. Too perfect, too untainted for me to darken her life with the shadows that haunt me. To curse her. To see her consumed by a fate I am powerless to prevent.
