“I’m going to go check on her,” I announced, then bolted up the stairs as fast as my legs would carry me.
The wooden floor creaked beneath my boots as I rounded the corner at the top of the staircase. Peering down the hall, I could see the door to our bedroom was cracked open.
Silently, I made my way through the dimly lit hallway and looked into the room through the narrow opening of the door. When I couldn’t see much of anything, my hand instinctively moved to push the door open, and as it swung wide, the sight of the shattered mirror and the mess of objects strewn across the floor made my heart lurch.
“Lia?” My voice was gentle. “Lia, I know you’re in here.” I took a step in and glanced over to the other side of the bed. She was sitting on the floor, shrinking up against the wall, with tears streaming down her face as her chin rested on her knees.
She slowly met my gaze. “What have I done?”
My eyes widened, and I leapt over the bed and was in front of her instantly. I dropped to my knees and reached over to gently wipe her tears as they continued to pour from her silver-lined eyes. My thumb smudged the dirt and gore that had caked onto her face to find that her tears had stained her cheeks.
“What do you mean?” I asked as tenderly as I could manage, trying to keep her from sensing my concern.
“You need to get as far away from me as possible, if only until I deal with this disaster. The others, too,” she choked out.
My brows furrowed. “Lia, I’m not following.”
“Do you love me?” she asked, and my heart painfully thudded at her question.
“More than anything,” my voice rasped out as my eyes frantically searched hers.
“I cannot understand how.” She let out a gut-wrenching sob. “Everyone who has ever cared for me isdead. I’m a monster. You need to get as far away from me as possible and take the rebels with you. Please.”
I stared at her in silence for a few seconds. “My Lia,” I started, but she stopped me instantly.
“Don’t you fuckingdaresay it isn’t true! I killed my own mother!” she shouted. Her voice lowered to barely above a whisper. “And then my father and Lukas were murdered because of me. Everyone I love is killed. Everything I touch withers.” Her stare lifted to meet mine once more. “And if something happens to you, I will never forgive myself. The gods may as well rip my soul from the realm and burn it to ash because I won’t survive. This all started because of me, and now I must be the one to end it.”
My shaking hand reached out and cupped the back of her head, pulling her closer to me. I pressed my lips to her forehead and held it there as a tear of my own slipped from me.
“I used to think there wasn’t a single fucking thing in this realm that I wouldn’t do for you,” I admitted, and slowly released my hold on her as I pulled back. “But I just realized that there is, and it’s that.” Our eyes were locked on each other as her bottom lip trembled. “I willneverleave you. I will follow you to the edge of this world and beyond, no matter what you say or do. I’m not letting you go. I won’t. So, please, never ask that of me. You know how much I despise disappointing you.”
“What if something happens to you?” she croaked out.
I shrugged one of my shoulders. “And what if something happens to you? You think I could survive without you, either? The risk is always there, but not being at your side will never be an option. The two of us being apart won’t protect us. If anything, it would doom us. If loving you means death may greet me early, then I will welcome it wholeheartedly, because a life without you is a life I want no part of. However, I plan to survive…with you as my queen.”
A ghost of a smile tilted her lips. “I love you,” she whispered shakily as she threw her arms around my neck, burrowing her face into the nape of it.
I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing tightly, as my heart continued to race in my chest. “You just scared the shit out of me.”
“I’m still mad at you,” she admitted when she leaned back and looked at me, her mouth twisting back into a scowl.
“That’s fine,” I said, and surprise flashed across her features. “I’m incredibly sorry for lying to you, but I will be honest and admit that if given the chance, I would do it again without hesitation. It's not as if demanding you to sit out during abattlewould’ve gone over well. If the suggestion even slipped past my lips, you likely would’ve locked me in a closet and gone out yourself.”
Her temper was rising to the surface once more, tiptoeing along the bond, so I continued. “You were half drunk. I wasn’t going to take the risk, and I did it to protect you, andIknowyou would’ve pulled some sneaky shit on me if roles were reversed.”
Her cheeks flushed, and she sucked in her bottom lip as if trying to suppress a laugh.
I raised a brow at her. “Do you deny it?”
Lia was silent for a few moments, and then her eyes flew to the ceiling as her lips betrayed her, tilting upwards. “No.”
“That’s what I thought,” I huffed out a laugh as I rose to stand. I reached my hand out to help her up when I admitted, “Gods, I thought you were up here upset that you had killed our prisoner.” I blew out a breath of relief.
“Absolutely fucking not.” Confusion twisted her face as she stared at me beneath furrowed brows.
“There’s my Lia,” I chuckled as I reached out and pulled her into my arms. I rested my chin on the top of her head and asked, “What’s our next move?”
Her eyes lifted to mine, and a mischievous grin appeared on her infuriatingly beautiful face when she said, “I have a plan.”
