Page 110 of Crown of Darkness
He pauses in front of me. “He will recover. It took him years to break free of the Grimm’s hold over him. He can break through your mother’s twisted little games.”
I lean my back against the wall. “I hate seeing Baylor like this.”
“Promise me you will be patient,” he says. “Promise me you won’t go to see her again.”
Our eyes meet.
“I can’t make that promise.”
“Vi, she can trap you there forever.”
I press the heels of my palms to my eyes. “She doesn’t want to trap me. She wants to be free. She said—”
“She’s a monster!”
We are all capable of becoming monsters for the ones we love….
“And so am I.” I wrap my arms around myself.
Heat flares in his eyes. “Is that what this is about? You’re not a monster. You’re—”
“Half Old One,” I point out. “If you think her a monster, then what does that make me?”
The muscle in his jaw flexes. “It makes you my wife. And it’s not her power and heritage that makes her dangerous. You’re nothing like her, Vi.”
He doesn’t understand. Not truly.
“Promise me you will tell me before you contact her again. So I can get you out, if she won’t let go of you.”
It’s a reasonable deal, and if I wasn’t so tired I wouldn’t have pushed him so far. “I promise,” I whisper, reaching up to kiss his cheek.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Come,” Thiago says, three days later, lifting his hand to mine.
I glance up from the candle flame I’ve been making dance over the tabletop. He insists I learn to control my newfound powers. “Where are we going?”
“I want to show you something,” he says.
“What?”
He rolls his eyes. “Can I not have one surprise?”
Lights suddenly shatter in the night sky, painting the world through the window in a kaleidoscope of color. My heart kicks faster, but there’s no alarm on his face, only a smile.
“What’s going on?” I rush to the window, leaning closer to the glass.
Another night-blooming flower blossoms in the sky above us, hissing sparks crackling down over Ceres’s harbor. The city below us is fall of people. All the squares writhe with banners and colored ribbons. Market stalls seem to have flourished from nowhere.
I’m not aware of any major holidays. Imbolc is behind us, and the next equinox is weeks away.
A warm presence encircles me from behind, Thiago’s lips brushing against the back of my neck. “They’re celebrating their queen.”
My head turns to his, but there’s a quiet sort of joy in his eyes.
“Want to join them?”
