Page 119 of Staff of Nightfall

“Ad—”

“I’m not strong, Reg.” She let the tears come. Too much sorrow. Too much loss. Too much fear and failure. She had been so close and ruined it by one stupid mistake. “I’m scared, and I’m tired, and I don’t want my family to die because of me. I—” A sob cut through her words. Kirven would make her do unforgivable things. But she pictured Minerva laughing with Gaius, her hands holding her swollen belly. “I have to save them.”

Regulus pulled her close. She leaned into him. “Ad...” His cheek rested against her forehead, but his emotions didn’t hit her.

The bond is gone,she reminded herself. Another whimpering sob burned at her throat.

“Hargreaves,” Nolan said. “Kindly unhand my wife.”

Adelaide shivered and clenched Regulus’ shirt as his grip on her tightened. She wanted to fall asleep against him and wake up in a world where Father wasn’t dead, where Regulus hadn’t broken their bond, where she wasn’t on the verge of collapse. She should fight. Fight until her last breath. She should die before she helped Kirven kill the king and subjugate Monparth and its neighbors. It was what Father would do.But Father isn’t here.

“My mage,” Regulus murmured. “Don’t give up,shiraa.We’ll fight—”

“I don’t have any fight left.” She wasn’t the seasoned warrior he was, wasn’t the tigress Father had thought her. Despair ate away at her heart. She could stop running, stop fearing. All it took to save her family, to save Regulus, to finallyrest, was to give in and become a sorceress.

It would make her a monster. She would corrupt her soul until she enjoyed others’ pain as much as Kirven did. But maybe the ache in her heart would go away. The people she loved would live.

And she’d be married to Nolan.

She couldn’t surrender. She couldn’t fight.

“Help me,” Adelaide whispered. Whether she was asking Regulus or Etiros, she wasn’t sure.

Kirven laughed. “Only I can help you now.”

“I won’t leave you.” Regulus swallowed hard. “I’ll serve him, too.”

“No!” Adelaide pulled back to look him in the eyes. “Regu—”

“Forever,piahre.” He held her gaze. “That’s what you asked me. That’s what I agreed to. Forever. No more splitting up.”

She shook her head as her stomach twisted. “But—”

Regulus held her face in his hands. “We fight together, we die together, or we serve together. I’m not abandoning you.”

“Not an option,” Nolan spat. “Adelaide is mine.”

“She’s mine,” Kirven said. “I’m just letting you borrow her. You can share.”

Adelaide stared at Regulus and tried to block out Nolan and Kirven. They no longer shared their emotions with a touch, but she could read his face. His love and unwavering belief that she didn’t deserve. But also pain and fear and anger. He didn’t want to serve Kirven again. But he would. For her. For a woman who was too broken to keep going. How did he love her enough to give up the freedom he had worked so hard to earn? To go back to that life of pain?

“Love conquers fear,”Father’s voice whispered.

“Stop doubting yourself,” Regulus murmured. “I love the woman I see.”

She blinked. How could he know? Only one thing to do. “Together.”

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