“And so I’ll do it again and again until we get it right.”
Mal shook his head. “Maxius deserves what isreal.”
She couldn’t argue.
After a moment, he repeated himself. “Make me a promise.”
“Anything, Mal.”
“I want you to remember me the way I was before Shadow. Before my fall. Don’t remember me as I am now. Remember our summer at Sinclair Estates, not the winter we are in now.”
Brutal words.
She would honor them.
She nodded. “I could never forget that summer.”
“It was only you I desired, then. No legacy, no crown. Just your eyes on mine.”
“They’re not blue anymore,” she said, suddenly feeling the weight of his restored appearance compared to her own.
Mal shook his head, the movement slow and small. “All I see is you.” His head tilted to the side, watching her with newfound interest. “You look so beautiful, thrumming with the power of Aterna.”
Her chest ached at his words.
He paused, looking at her. “I want to despise it, the fact that it's his, but I can’t. Not when it means you are safe.”
Shadow moved in her periphery. Her distraction was running up.
“She is slipping from my spell,” said Maeve hastily. Her voice was broken, defeated as she said. “I have to let go.”
“Do not forget your promise, Little Viper,” said Mal as his fingers reached for her face. “Remember me, as I was.”
Before his slender fingers could brush her cheek, they turned to mist. His entire body began to fade into nothing as the space around them collapsed.
“Pour toujours”, he said, his voice fading.
Forever.
Maeve pulled from his mind and Shadows at once. The soft light of Sanctum flickered back into her eyes. Reeve leaned against the smooth stone silently, nothing but the quiet trickle of water running over the rough roots of the tree filling the space.
She pulled her knees up and buried her face in them, hiding her tears from him. Reeve’s footsteps echoed across the temple.
A warm hand rested on the top of her head. The warmth faded as his footsteps retreated. Maeve held her legs close.
“A tout jamais”, she cried softly.
And always.
Chapter 51
Warmth brushed against her cheek. She moaned and settled into the feeling, not wanting to open her eyes. She needed less sleep now, but after so many nights without it, and the aftermath exhaustion of maintaining contact in both Mal and Shadow’s minds, she’d gladly closed her eyes.
Reluctantly, she opened them.
Reeve moved one finger over his mouth and looked beside her, where Lyrux lay between her and Abraxas. Maeve followed his gaze to the sleeping little boy, his hair draped messily across his face, and then up at Abraxas. Her cousin sat reclined in the bed, awake and running his fingers through Lyrux’s white blonde hair.
She blinked sleepily.
