Page 6 of Merciless Is My Crown

That threat hung in the air until three shadowy forms started up the twisting mountain path.

Adele was smart enough not to say anything when we reached the bottom of the rocky path and I dismounted, then bent down to bind the thick, woolen strips around our horse’s hooves.

Not a perfect solution, but the fabric would muffle our steps.

I kept staring at those pale spires, rage building in my chest, hope withering by the minute. After all we’d been through, Anaria could not die. She couldn’t, not when we’d finally found each other. And she was the first good thing I’d found in my long, wicked life.

I’d spent my entire life in the shadows and Anaria was the light, but together we would create a better world than the one that came before. Because sometimes lights shine brightest against the darkness.

And we had so much more to do together. One more wicked realm to topple, another corrupt king to kill.

A new kingdom to forge.

My heart squeezed when I pictured Anaria sitting on the throne, a crown perched atop her head, that look of fierce determination on her beautiful face. My princess was destined to rule, born to become something greater than any ruler before.

Not die in the ruins of a kingdom she’d destroyed, at the hands of the gods she was supposed to replace.

And I would crawl through fire to make sure Anaria realized her greatness. I would slaughter her every enemy, exterminate every threat, then watch a new, better world be reborn by her hand.

I rubbed the mark on my chest absently, an echo of pain throbbing there.

I didn’t dare wonder if that ache had something to do with the pain Anaria was enduring right now.

“Go slow and let your horse pick his way along the path. Slower is better, and we don’t want to have to outrun those.”

I kept my eyes on the circling wraiths as we started our agonizingly slow journey, every gust of wind overlaid with the faintest hint of jasmine and amber, as if Anaria was with me every step of the way.

4

TAVION

Icurled my body around Anaria when the shadows closed in around us.

Perhaps the darkness was death itself, looming in the stillness beyond my pitiful fire, waiting for my beloved to draw her final breath and snatch her away from me forever.

“You can’t fucking have her.” My growl rattled the walls and the shadows paused.

“She is mine.” I hugged her closer. “Mine, do you hear? She belongs to me and I to her, and if you take her from this realm, then you’d best take me, too.”

She’d stopped shivering long ago, her breaths coming so slowly I pressed my ear to her chest to make sure her heart still beat faintly. I’d memorized every inch of her. The dark lashes curved against her pale cheeks like halfmoons, the speckle of dots on her nose.

Once, my entire life had revolved around Julian.

A younger brother’s love, steeped in hero worship and blind adoration.

Nothing held a candle to how much I loved Anaria. She consumed me—heart, body, and mind—and the strangest part was…my feelings didn’t scare me anymore. I hugged her closer, face buried in her hair, her soft curves pressed so tight against me every rattling, hard-fought breath felt like my own.

A crippling fear seized me, tinged with a wild panic I couldn’t control.

Not so long ago, I’d had a future before me. Now I was about to lose it all. Lose everything if Anaria didn’t survive this.

“When you’re better, we’ll go home to Nightcairn.” I nuzzled her cold cheek, the wolf inside me keening with fear yet unable to stifle its demanding, territorial side. “You’ll stay in my room, in my bed. I’ll hunt food for you. I’ll keep you safe, then we will decide what comes next. The castle will be your home…our home, as long as we’re together.”

I’d never loved anyone in such a dizzying, consuming way. “I have money. We can go anywhere.” I paused as she drew another raspy breath, this one harder fought than all the ones before. “Anywhere, even across the sea. We could be free, Anaria. Free to be whoever we wanted to be.”

I promised her everything.

If she survived, I would give her the entire world.

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