Now was not the appropriate time for sarcasm, but I didn’t know how to take the words back, so I accepted the strange look she gave me.
“It appears you’re alive too.”She glanced at the door.“Are you here to lock me away?”
I searched for humor in her voice but couldn’t find it.
“I thought we could skip straight to the execution.The dungeon’s getting a little overcrowded as of late.”
Panic lit in her eyes, and I stopped it with a smile.“You’re free and clear, Analleia.Your name is acquitted.Your brother.Your country.Your family.It’s the least we can do after what my...after everything you have been through.”
There were no amends that could be made for such tragedy wrought of lies and deception.No apology that could make anything better.
Silence stretched between us as we stood there unsure of how to continue, of what to say.I opened my mouth to speak, but hesitated, afraid to push through the tension.
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she turned away, trying to hide them.“Thank you, Valeris.Not just for that, for everything, and I needed to tell you I’m sorry, needed to apologize for—”
I closed the distance between us in two long strides, cupping her face and silencing her words with a desperate kiss.I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against me, my heart racing as she responded.She wasn’t pushing me away.She was alive.Alive.Alive.
I could still feel her blood seeping through my fingers, the dead weight of her lifeless form.Her screams as the Enchantress had torn through her mind, tried to rip her apart.The words she had mouthed to me.
I’m sorry.
The wall the lies had built between us crumbled around me, the messed-up complexity of everything too confusing to sort through.I didn’t know what to think, didn’t know what to do or believe, but I did know she was here.That buried beneath everything, whatever tether pulling us together had been real.
I leaned my forehead against hers, drawing in a deep breath.“I thought you were dead, Analleia.I thought she’d killed you, that you—”
She silenced my worries with another kiss, her touch calming my fears.
“I’m alive, Valeris.I’m here.”She looked up at me through her lashes.“But I lied to you.”
I tsked.“Yes, you should have told me you were here to assassinate my father and throw my kingdom into turmoil.You have no idea how understanding I would have been.”
She let out a little laugh, but it fell away into sadness.“And in the end it wasn’t even him.”Her voice faded, and she swallowed, looking up at me.“I’m sorry about...about your family.”
I clenched my jaw.
“If life has taught me one thing, it’s that we can’t change the past,” I said.“But we can change the future.”
I laced my fingers with hers.“With Zandyr dead and Ezrielle on trial, I’m assuming the throne.”
“Oh dear,” she teased.“The cocky prince wearing the crown?”
I ignored the humor, keeping my voice serious.“I once asked what your plans were after the finale.”
She stilled, waiting for me to continue.
“I’d like for you to stay here, in Paravellia, with me—if that’s whatyouwant.”
I tripped over my words, not practiced at this and nervous about how she would respond.Worry rose within me, eating away at my calm.
She bit her lower lip.“I’m sure I’d be welcomed with open arms.”
“I’m being serious, Analleia.”
She looked down at our interlaced fingers, fiddling with them, uncertainty raging in her eyes.My heart picked up, needing her to answer.
“So much has happened, Valeris,” she said.
My breath caught, and I nodded.
