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“I promise you, he will be seen in the king’s court and humiliated for the rest of his existence,” Systorak assures me. “I guarantee it.”
I speak into his chest, feeling the pace of his heart pick up as my exhausted tone surges through his long body.
“You came back,” I repeat dozily. “Why did you come back, Systorak?”
The initial silence scares me, but as his hands come to my lower back and pacify me, all of my doubts are eradicated.
“I came back for you, Lana. Only for you.”
TWENTY-ONE
SYSTORAK
The moment has finally come for me to tell Lana the entire truth about what she means to me. My hands begin to tremble and sweat as she asks me the most profound and important question I will ever be asked … why did I come back?
“I came back for you, Lana, only for you.”
The words seemed insufficient, but I knew by her exhausted phrasing that she needed something definitive. I’m certain that all the emotions swirling in my chest will be forever insufficient to the incandescent beauty she radiates in physical and spiritual ways.
Her face is on my chest still, and I stroke her hair. Lord Egretz remains incapacitated on the floor, but he could come back at any point, using his powers to attack us from behind like the coward he is.
“Let’s contact the authorities and get out of here,” I whisper to Lana, who nods against my chest.
She is a strong, formidable woman, but the use of the abilities I had no clue she possessed has drained her. But what I admire most is the fact that she is no longer trying to hide it from me. She grips onto my hand to keep her balance, swaying without restraint.
“Who will come for them?” she mutters.
“The king’s court will,” I reply. “I will get Durr to summon them, and they will take him away for assaulting you and attempting to illegally obtain the coin.”
At that moment, Lana gazes down at her right hand. She is spent, her long black hair having been shaken out of the hood of her cape, glistening under the glowing lights of the chamber. The coin in her hand sparkles, too, but the edges of her skin are frayed, a permanent scabby enclosure to contain the metallic infection.
“To think that such an object has so much power,” she whispers.
She tries to step forward and nearly stumbles, still gazing at the coin embedded in her palm. Her other hand holds onto mine so I can keep her from falling, and she gasps with a playful giggle in accompaniment.
I pull her to me firmly, wrapping my bottom arms around her waist. She giggles and groans, easing into my touch, sliding her hands up my upper arms to rest around my neck.
Lana looks at me with those hazel pools, her smile small but sincere. She is no longer hiding behind a veil of sarcasm or forced strength. She is as genuine and vulnerable as they come.
And that somehow makes her beautiful face and soul even more stunning.
“Sys,” she murmurs.
“Yes?”
“Take me home.”
I nod, brushing hair out of her face to rest behind her ear. Her smile swells, and she kisses my hand before it returns to her neck.
Home.
After securely restraining a dozy Lord Egretz, who doesn’t seem to know where he is or who he is, we left his keep. I notified Durr about Egretz as we passed by his post and then continued on our way. For the first time in our entanglement, Lana is letting me carry her to the tower, and I cradle her across the ashen field with her head pressed into the crook of my arm the entire way.
It is still night when we arrive at the tower. The moon shone high in the sky, the pink tinge having faded into a deeper, almost wine red. It silhouettes Lana’s enchanting face delightfully, her eyes fluttering closed like a child who’s missed their bedtime.
“I really did a number on him, didn’t I?” Lana says as we climb the stairs to her chamber.
“You really did,” I reply. “If I’d known you had such abilities, I would have proposed to you on the spot when we first met.”
