Page 68 of Shadowbound

Just as he reaches me, the sun comes out and shafts of blinding sunlight come down through the skylights, hurting my sensitive NightBorn eyes. I tell myself that’s why I’m crying—it must be.

But Alaric sees my tears and cups my face in his hands.

“Don’t cry, sweetheart. Please, don’t,” he murmurs. He swipes at my cheeks with his thumbs, wiping away the salty droplets.

“I can’t help it,” I whisper. “I’m going to miss you so much!”

“You don’t have to miss me!” Alaric exclaims.

“Yes, I do!” I cry. “You must stay here while I have obligations in Nocturna. My Queen needs my support—she lost all her trusted Councilors at once when Kraven took over. And your country needs you. Solaris will need a firm hand to guide it out of the murky waters the last GodKing steered it into.”

“I love my country, but I love you more,” he murmurs. “I can’t stay here and rule Solaris if it means never seeing you again!”

“I’ll come visit sometimes,” I promise. “Not too often but every once in a while. But I can’t stay here, Alaric—I’m no good in all this sun.” I blink my eyes and shade my eyes from the sunlight.

“Of course not,” he says, frowning. “I won’t ask you to stay here with me—I know you have duties at home and I know the sunlight hurts your eyes.”

“But you can’t stay with me either,” I point out. “You have a country to run now.”

“I know,” he says grimly and frowns. “I feel responsible—after all, I’m the one who killed the GodKing.”

“No, you didn’t,” I say gently. “The Heart of the Eclipse was simply restoring balance. The GodKing extended his own life, probably by magically stealing from the lives of others—The Heart simply took back the years he had stolen.”

“Truly?” Alaric looks greatly relieved. “So I didn’t kill him?”

“No, my love—you didn’t,” I assure him. “You need not have any guilt about his death. It was meant to be, and your country will be better off without him. And now I should go so you can be crowned.”

“No—don’t leave me!” Alaric takes my hands in his. “Please, Mistress,” he adds in a low voice. “I can’t bear to lose you.”

“You don’t need me anymore,” I tell him. “You don’t need a Mistress—you’ll be Master of your own destiny and King of your country. Our time together is at an end.”

“It doesn’t have to be, though,” he argues. “Because I do need you. And I think if you’re honest, you need me too.”

I start to shake my head and say “no” again but he interrupts me.

“Look, I have an idea—what if I got a regent?”

“A regent?” I frown up at him. “What do you mean?”

“Someone to rule for me whenever I’m gone. The Captain of the Guard—Roland, he’s a good man and he used to be my superior,” he tells me. “He’s fair and he won’t let the power go to his head. I’ll let them crown me GodKing if they want to, but I’ll leave Roland on the throne to enact my policies. I can come back once a week—we both can, since you can take us by magic—and make sure everything is going well.”

I frown uncertainly.

“I don’t know about that. Are you sure the councilors will agree with that plan?”

“If they don’t, they can find themselves another GodKing.” He lifts his chin defiantly. Then, to my surprise, he sinks to his knees before me. “Please, Mistress, don’t end things with me,” he murmurs, looking up at me. “We can make this work—I know we can.”

For the first time, I begin to feel a spark of hope. Can we really stay together? I’d been so certain that once he was crowned, Alaric would want to leave me and have his own life. But does he honestly want to keep on with our relationship?

“You’re certain you want to continue?” I ask him. “You’ll be the ruler here now and you have control of your Holy Fire since your Drake emerged. You can have any woman you want as your Queen.”

“You—I only want you.” He looks at me earnestly. “I want to wear your collar and worship you with my tongue—I want to hold you at night and feel you tie me with your Shadows and take me. I want you for the rest of my life, Mistress.”

His words make me even more surprised.

“But my Paladin…you’ll be a GodKing. Are you certain you still want to submit?”

His eyes go half-lidded and fill with flames.

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