Page 117 of Black Crown

“Oh, my love. I cannot. You know I cannot. I am here, and you are there.” Tears trekked down over the planes of his features.

My eyes burned, tears spilling over the brim, and I dashed at them if only to see him better. “What are you saying?” I asked, clutching my head. “Stop saying such things.”

“Move on, Ryn.”

“Stop!” I screamed.

“I’m already gone.”

I fell to my knees, raking my nails through the stone. “Stop,” I pleaded. “Stop!” I repeated my chant without break, rocking back and forth as I wept. “I won’t let you leave me. I won’t let you go.”

He reached for me, dropping to the ground to pull me into his arms.

Is that what it took for him to touch me? If so, I’d gladly repeat my anguish until my last breath.

He held tight, his long fingers encircling the entire width of my bicep as he pulled back to look me in the eye.

“Do you want to die?” he whispered. He leaned forward and traced his nose up the side of my face as he inhaled me. He pressed his lips to my ear and said, “You are not meant for death, my love.”

Shivers erupted then, and a fierce desire took the place of my shaking sobs.

“You need to be gone. Right now.”

“I’ll never leave you,” I swore. “Never.” I stared into his face that not so long ago, in this very harvest zone, I’d seen as stone-cold. But now I knew better. The wild edge to his eyes was fear. For me. Always for me.

My mate had always thought of me.

“Please, Tyrrik? I’ll . . .” I stared up into his face, tracing his skin with my fingers, my heart expanding. I had no quip. Nothing but raw honesty would do here. “I love you. There is no one else, and there never will be. I need you with me. I want you . . . Please?”

My throat clogged as he pulled away, my hands falling to my lap. But as I bowed my head in defeat, a thread of onyx power brushed against my palm. I closed my fist around the wisp of midnight, hope tickling within my chest, and I tenderly wove my lapis Drae power around the onyx strand and opened my heart to my mate.

The warm darkness swallowed us both.

“You’ve already left me,” my mate whispered.

And then fire erupted, encasing my body. As the blaze raged, consuming me, I wept. More painful than the physical burn was the realization that his flame was a myriad of yellows, oranges, and reds.

A normal flame.

Not the lapis lazuli blue that he’d always breathed in my presence.

Not our flame.

Yet I wouldn’t release the onyx tendril and let him leave me forever.

39

Iflailed, fighting off invisible flame as I wrenched upright, sending black sand flying everywhere. The sand was hot, like Drae fire. Too hot.

Drak, I rubbed a hand over my stinging eyes and then reached for my nearby waterskin—a must in the desert at the very southern point of the realm. After a year here, I’d learned the wisdom at having one handy. I squeezed the remaining liquid into my mouth, swallowing painfully, one foot still inside the horrible remnants of my nightmare.

I sighed and got to my feet then hobbled to the top of a black dune. Looking out over the endless desert, my gaze fell over the tents spattering the area beneath me. The bohemian material was strung out to provide shelter from the beating sun, but all in all, the Drae liked minimizing the layer between them and the twin moons, especially at night.

I didn’t blame them.

I scoured over the area, and my attention snagged on a lithe Drae as he pulled off his aketon.

He leaned over and returned to his effort, digging what appeared to be a massive hole in the ground. His tall frame was all lean muscle, and his skin, the color of Mum’s burnt sugar, smoothed when he stretched. Although currently, he dug through the sand and rock with his talons. Sweat glistened and beaded, rolling down his back, disappearing into the top of his black trousers.

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