Page 118 of Queen of Thorns
Caelynn
He was going to leavethe High Court for me.
We were going to be together, for real. Forever.
I can picture that life so clearly. He would have proposed in a stupidly elaborate way. Got down on one knee and presented a ring of glowing lumi-stone. The sprites would have passed on the news to the whole kingdom, whispering their joyous celebration of our union.
We would have said our vows, publicly, in the Shadow palace while gargoyles looked down on us with their bright shining eyes. He would have held me through every trial being a ruler will inevitably bring. I would have woken in his arms every morning.
We’d have played hide and seek in the Shadow palace courtyard. We have danced before the Phantoms in the ballroom. We’d have made an entire wing of the palace our home. We’d have walked into the High Court, arm in arm, wearing matching crowns and smug smiles, not at all caring who hated us and who admired us.
He’d have kissed my belly, swollen with his child. The strongest Shadow heir in hundreds of years.
He was mine. He believed in me like no one else ever has.
As I look at his eyes now, void of life, I realize that I lost.
The Night Bringer won.
Caelynn
