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I wanted nothing more than to go with her, finally taking my place by her side, but I still couldn’t help but look back at the space. My gaze lingered one last time on the burning letter before I stepped away.
Sometimes, leaving the past behind was the hardest part.
“I took the liberty of bringing a serving of dinner to our room for you,” Evie offered after Kingston escorted us to her quarters and retired for the night. “You need to eat.”
“Our room,” I replied, bringing a smile to her face, but she turned around and walked to the table that had been set up on the corner.
Aserving of dinner?? That thing was a damn buffet.
“I’m not hungry…” I rubbed my hands over my face and sighed. “How can I possibly be? Willow’s words are still cutting through me. What she said—”
“Held some truth,” Evie cut in, walking back to my side with a heavy breath.
Damn. “Harsh. But okay.”
The smile that curved her lips was mixed with sadness, and she looked into my eyes. “Would you die for me?” Her question took me aback, it was so unexpected. “If you knew my life was at risk, Braxton, would you offer yours in exchange?”
“Without an ounce of hesitation,” I instantly answered.
She nodded, knowingly. As though my answer proved her point. “Why?”
“Because I love you. Because you are the soon-to-be-queen, and our people need you. Everything you do is for them, you lead them, you fight for those who can’t fight for themselves,” I replied, finding power in Kingston’s words.
“Every single person outside this room would answer the same way, Brax. They would die to protect me. They would die to protect Kingston, their chief, too. And now, those warriors—even the ones stunned away by your revelation—would die for you if it came to that.”
Her hands lifted to my chest, and I gripped her waist, pulling her to me.
“To them, our livesaremore important, because their sacrifice means we can continue to lead, to protect, to fight for everyone. That is why our parents made the decisions they made. And no matter how much we hate it, regardless of how we wish it wasn’t so, the fact that someone we swore to protect might choose to die so we can live remains true,” she admitted, disappointment shining through her eyes because it even had to be that way.
Unfortunately, she was right.
It was the reason people would die for the president of their nation without a second thought. Or in a hierarchy, their king and queen, and the prince or princess who would one day be their rulers and protectors. It was strange for me to see it that way because it was a side of my life I had just discovered, but that was exactly who Evie and I had always been. The princess and prince who would save and lead our people one day, fight for their freedom if our parents weren’t able to achieve it. Our parent’s decision, as difficult as it might have been, was the only one.
They had to save and secure Caelisium’s future through us.
“I wish it didn’t have to be that way.” My statement carried the hurt Willow’s heartbreak had left on me.
“Me too. But Willow was wrong about one thing. Her family, those warriors who lost their lives that day, didn’t diebecauseof you, orbecauseof your father. They diedforhim. For what he represented to them. Every single one of them went into battle, willing to give their lives if it meant the Harbinger of Justice could win this fight for all of us. Bring us peace, and freedom.”
She paused for moment, her fingertips playing with the neckline of my T-shirt.
“My parents died for us too. For you and me. They were willing to do so for something bigger than all of us. They gave their lives because they knew that we would keep fighting for this world. And that when our time came, we would end Raithian once and for all.”
Accepting that as true, I vowed right there and then that all the lives we had lost, including our parent’s deaths, wouldnotbe in vain. Evie and I would use every ounce of our combined power to defeat that soulless monster.
Lifting my hand to her cheek, I let my thumb caress her soft skin as my gaze bore into hers. “Then let’s create a world together, where no one must sacrifice their lives for anyone ever again. Where our people can just live their lives however they choose to do so, and be happy with those they decide to love.”
A breathtaking smile captured Evie’s eyes, hope shining through them so strongly that it seeped into me. “Let us do that.”
Her lips closed over mine and I instantly gave in to her, her kiss renewing my heart and clearing the fog that had held it prisoner tonight.
“But first, youhaveto eat,” she scolded, pulling me to the table, and grabbing something from one of the plates.
My mouth stretched into a smirk a moment before she fed me a piece of deliciously juicy roasted chicken, and I realized how hungry I truly was.
Evie continued to feed me by placing the food in my mouth with her fingers slowly, her gaze never leaving mine. I wasn’t sure when it all turned sensual as fuck, but by the time she fed me the fudgy chocolate cake piece, I was ravenous, not for the cake though.
The taste of chocolate mixed with the taste of her the second I claimed her lips, kissing her with all the desire her teasing had awakened in me. I was so hard for her that it hurt to be constrained against my pants. Pulling her even closer against me, I rubbed my hardness against her navel, showing her exactly how bad I needed her, and a whimper escaped her in response, dancing against our tongues.
