“P-Please…” I begged, pressing him against my chest as I rocked back and forth. “P-Please… I can’t… I-I can’t… I can’t do this without him. P-Please!”
“Let this be your lesson, son,” my father replied from behind me, not a drop of remorse in his tone. “If you oppose me, then I will strip you of everything you love until you fall in line.”
My head snapped over my shoulder, rage mingling with the onslaught of suffocating emotions. “I will fuckingkillyou,” I snarled, every word coming out with a venom so sharp, so defined, that he flinched. “When the gods, thetruegods, grant me the chance of ending your pitiful existence, I will waste no time gutting you with a rusted fucking blade. I will?—”
Trembling fingers brushed against my cheek, halting my threat as soon as I felt their gentle coax. My attention shifted from the man I loathed to the man I loved, Percy’s fading emerald irises finding mine. “W-What… I-I was trying… t-to tell you… in the hallway… w-was… that… I-I love… I love you…”
My heart fractured, the feelings I’d held off on sharing coming back to haunt me. “P-Percy… I-I…” A whimper slipped from me; the walls I built around myself to ensure I remained emotionally sound were obliterated by the wave of sadness that overtook me. “I… I love… I love you… P-Please… I-I can’t do this without you. I-I can’t… I can’t… I can’t?—”
“Y-You can…” He smiled weakly, combing his fingers through my hair as if to remember its texture. “A-And you will… because… There is so much l-left in this world… T-There are so many places to explore… S-So much freedom… to be e-earned…” He coughed, the sound rasped and final. “S-So promise… P-Promise me that you… will k-keep living… K-Keep fighting… K-Keep shining… Do not… let him… d-dim the light that I-I fell in love with… D-Do not let him t-take away… the strong s-soul I came to care s-so deeply for…”
Pulling him flush against me, my forehead met his. “There is no point in me continuing to live ifyouare not by my side.”
His chilled lips met mine with a kiss so soft, so delicate that I knew he was already slipping into Elaros’s arms. His arm slid into a heap on his stomach. Slowly pulling away from our connection, a wheezed breath shook his frame, his ribs rattling with the fleeting ability to gather air.
“T-There are plenty of points…” he whispered, nuzzling his head against my chest. “Y-You… have a c-continent to save… A-And onlyyouare s-strong enough to do so… K-Kael…”
Holding his gaze, his lids fluttered slightly, and his frame settled against me even more as I whined, “Y-You make me strong… W-Without you… I am nothing.”
He weakly shook his head, a soft smile caressing his blood-covered lips. “Y-You have always been everything… And y-you always will be… T-To me… T-To this realm…” Skin paling even further, his exhales slowed as a sign of his impending departure. “I-It… was an h-honor… l-loving you…”
Whimpering, I tucked my face into his neck, inhaling every drop of his scent—ofhim—that I could. “I… I-I love… I love you too… I’m s-sorry. Gods, I-I’m so fucking sorry…”
A sigh was his answer, and he sank even further. The sound of his breathing vanished, and with it, so did every ounce of my light.
I clung to him as if my touch could force him back to life, but no matter how hard I clutched to his lifeless frame, he didn’t return to me. A guttural cry escaped me, and I remained kneeling on the throne room floor with adamant refusal to let go of him. Letting go meant leaving him, and he couldn’t be alone.Not when… Not when…
“Send in men to clean up this fucking mess,” my father barked, his voice somewhat distant yet close.
Heaving, my vision darkened before returning, and I lost count of how long I remained there, how long I stayed with him until I was forced away. I barely felt the arms grab hold of me, barely felt the presence that loomed beside me as they hauled Percy’s body away from me.
Knees threatening to buckle, an arm swept under mine, and I caught a flash of that crimson stare. “I’ve got you, and gods, I am so fucking sorry, Kael.”
“Shut up,” I whispered, trying to pull away from him, but my body only proved to be weak once more.
I was too weak to escape their hold. Too weak to save him. Too weak to protect him.
Too weak.
Tooweak.
Too fucking weak.
The walk to the doors became an incomprehensible blur of movement, and just as the mahogany fell into my line of sight, my father piped up from behind us. “Oh, and Kael.” There was a brief pause, his timbre circling around my throat like a noose. “I forgot to officially introduce you. This is Caspian Vayne, and starting now, he will be replacing Percival as your personal guard.”
CHAPTER 45
Reasonable Suspicion
SYORAN
Aspike of anguish tore through my side, a deep groan reverberating from the center of my chest. Hand sprawling against the surface beneath me, my fingers brushed against plush fabric. With my touch gliding like butter, it became apparent I was no longer in the streets of Veilmar, and instead…
Lids shooting open, I sat up abruptly, swallowing the cry that threatened to fall as the pain intensified. White-hot agony clawed at my ribs, each breath a talon that threatened to carve me in two. With my senses swarmed by the uncertainty of my overall state, I fixated on examining my body instead of the unknown room I’d woken up inside.
Shirtless, various strips of gauze wound their way around my abdomen. Not a drop of scarlet stained them, but some form of paste oozed out over the edge of the bandage. Whatever had been lathered across my skin to diminish the pain had worn off.
Head spinning, I pressed my thumb and forefinger to my temples. Rubbing generous circles, the unapologetic migraine only seemed to blossom further. Sighing, I pulled back, and with sluggishness from sitting upright too quickly, withdrew the extension of comfort to lift my chin.
