“I want that, too,” I admitted before dropping a small kiss to his palm. Torin smiled, but it was laced with shadows. “Soon,” I prayed.
“If I can come to you, will you leave him? Will you leave Vespera?” he asked, and my immediate answer was yes, but I hesitated. If I left with Torin, if I abdicated my position and fled, then everything that happened today—the emotional and physical pain—would be for nothing.
Torin took my hesitation as an answer, and his hand dropped from my cheek, a haunted look crossing his face before his eyes hardened.
“I’ll—”
“I didn’t say ‘no,’ Torin. I was thinking,” I cut him off and pulled his face down to my own, forcing him to see me. “Of course I am yours. I would follow you wherever, Torin.” Tension eased from his body with my words before returning.
“But?” he prompted, and I smirked.
So perceptive.
“I have a chance right now—a chance to right some of Alois’ wrongs, to do some good with the time that I have. A chance to learn control of my magic. For all of Alois’ faults, Vespera is a good place—the people are kind, the city is rich in knowledge. Let me learn for a while, let me try and affect some sort of change before you come in and blow it all up,” I teased, and Torin smirked at me.
“There she is,” he whispered before placing a reverent, chaste kiss against my lips. “I knew you were in there somewhere.”
I smiled, his words and confidence chasing away some of the dark shadows in my mind.
“It’ll take me time to set everything in motion, anyway,” he admitted with a shrug. “I have other plans to see to first, then I promise I will come and get you.”
“I’ve heard that line before, Torin,” I said, cagily.
He blew out a breath before running his hand through the mess of blond hair on top of his head. It’d grown since I’d seen him last.
“I will give you full transparency this time. Communicate with you constantly. Okay?”
I nodded my head, cautiously optimistic.
“Okay,” he exhaled with a small smile.
The sky roiled and thunder boomed as we sat in each other’s embrace.
“I have to go now,” Torin said. “I don’t want to, but I have to.”
I nodded. “Okay. You have important things to do as King of the Rebellion,” I joked, and he rolled his eyes at me.
“I’m no king, nor do I want to be.”
“I’m certain your people see you that way, whether or not you want it,” I said, rising from his lap. “You just have that presence, that command, that respect. It would be an honor to be queen by your side.”
Torin’s warm palms framed my face as he leaned down slightly to cover his lips with my own. We kissed for a brief minute—not nearly long enough—before he pulled away with a cheeky smile.
“Something to remember me by.” He winked, and I giggled, lighter and more sure than I was when I first entered the Dreamscape.
“In full transparency, I’m going to the Crystal Mines.” My breath caught at his admission.
“What for?” I didn’t dare hope.
“To rescue Peytor, of course,” he said with a shrug, his body fading into the ether as I watched.
My heart fluttered, something akin to hope shining through the dreary darkness that I thought I’d be bound to forever.
Torin’s actions reinforced what I now knew to be true—he was mine and I was his, wholly and utterly. Alois might have gotten a piece of me tonight, but that was all he would ever receive. No more would my body be his, no more would my mind belong to his schemes. It was time to make decisions for myself, even if they were bad decisions, even if they caused me pain. In the end, I’d have Torin, and maybe Peytor, to help pick up the pieces.
Alois could think he broke me, but I would show him it took much more than a quick, rough fuck to dismantle a d’Aelius.
By any means necessary.
