Brock rose slowly and started making his way toward us. “Tezya, you’re like a brother to me, and you have to know I would never purposely go against your wishes, but I think Scotlind should go with you.” I couldn’t tell if Brock was only suggesting it to appease Dovelyn or if he meant what he was saying, but either way I wasn’t going to question it. “Arcane said that she has access to your powers. In the event things go wrong, she’s the only other person who can take on the King. This is about the safety of our entire people.”
Tezya was silent for a while, letting his friend’s words sink in, and I could feel the confliction radiating off of him. I knew it was the exact reason he didn’t want me coming. He was scared I was going to interfere, and he wasn’t wrong. All day I’d been holding my tongue and consciously blocking my thoughts from him.
“I’ll go with the two of you,” Brock added when Tezya still wasn’t answering. “I promise I’ll stay with her and heal her if she gets hurt.”
“I’m also going,” Sie said. “Since Kallon is leaving, I’m your next best thing. Peter told me the Temples are on the opposite side of the island.”
Dovelyn glared openly at Peter who just smiled through eating his croissant. The fact that he was able to get the entire layout of Lux and managed to relay the information to Sie while he was my maid was beyond me, and it pissed Dovelyn off beyond belief. I honestly had no idea how he didn’t get caught sooner.
“You’ll need someone there if things go south. I can teleportanyone away who’s in danger,” Sie added, and I knew he meant me, but if Sie being there was the only way Tezya would agree to me coming, I wasn’t about to say anything. There was no way I’d let Sie teleport me back to the castle, but neither of them had to know that.
Tezya’s jaw clenched as moments passed.
Please,I added into his mind.
“Fine,” he gritted out, then turned to glare at Sie. “The moment I say so, you teleport her and Brock back.”
“Done.”
Tezya flexed out his hand before he made his way toward me. My mouth parted at the confidence in his gait, the way his hair was slick with sweat, pushing the long strands off his forehead. Even covered in blood and grime, he was breathtaking. I hadn’t been able to look at him for more than a few seconds while fighting today, and since we got into this room, I’d been trying to limit talking to him because I was too scared he’d read my thoughts.
“Rumor,” he said gently once he reached me. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us, but I looked up and focused on him. “Can we talk—alone?”
I scanned the room, and yup, everyone was watching. “Um… where?”
He grabbed my hand and started leading me toward the bathroom. Dovelyn’s abilities swirled around me as my enhancement picked up on it. She was casting a privacy shield over us.
Before the door fully closed, Tezya pulled me into an embrace, picking me up by my hips and slammed my back against the wall. His tongue was inside my mouth in seconds, and I willingly opened, letting him consume me. My fingers fisted his hair as I pulled him closer to my face, breathing him in. I couldn’t get enough.
At some point, I started to taste salt and knew it was frommy tears. I wanted this moment to last. I wanted to be kissing him with all the time in the world, instead of a rushed fleeting moment. We could both feel the weight of what was about to happen.
Tezya pulled back enough to look at me, his hands resting on either side of my cheeks, but he didn’t put me down.
“Rumor…”
“Don’t,” I stopped him. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“Rumor, please. I need to—”
“No.” I twisted out of his grasp, and he obliged, setting my feet back down on the floor. I turned away from him, making my way toward the door, but he grabbed my wrist.
“Rumor—”
I pushed back against his shoulder. I couldn’t hear it. I didn’t want him to say his goodbyes. If he was going to do that, it meant he didn’t think he would make it.
His grip on me tightened, not enough to hurt, but enough to keep me there. Tears were pooling in my eyes at an alarming rate. This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be my last moments with him.
I don’t plan for it to be,he said gently, reading my thoughts.Fuck, Rumor, I want forever with you, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens. Do you hear me?When I didn’t answer, he let go of my wrist, only to cup my cheeks again, then said out loud. “Rumor, I need you to believe me. I don’t plan on dying today. But please,” his voice faltered, “please, let me say this.”
I met his gaze. His perfect crystal blue eyes with specks of silver were already searching my face. I inhaled a sob, but nodded.
“I love you, Scotlind. I love you with all my being, and no matter what happens today nothing can change that. I will always love you, and I will always come back to you. I hope it’s in this life. I fucking pray to the Goddesses that it is, but if it’snot, I will find you in the next, and the one after that, and every fucking life we might get because I love you.”
I was sobbing now. I couldn’t muster a response out loud.I love you too, Tezya.
“I need you to promise me you won’t interfere. Promise me you’ll let me do this.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t. I couldn’t promise that.
