Page 175 of Crown of Darkness
“Thank you,” I whisper. “For everything.”
He gave me freedom when I could not see it for myself. He’s offered me nothing but love, ever since the first moment we laid eyes upon each other.
“I am honored to be your wife.”
His eyes narrow. “What are you planning, Vi?”
“Planning?”
His fist curls in my hair. “That sounds like goodbye. That sounds like you’re plotting to do something foolish.”
“We go to face Angharad and the Horned One. Is that not foolish enough?”
He looks at me.
I close my eyes and breathe him in. He’s moonlight and darkness; smoke on the wind; the scent of burned cinnamon. My promise. My hope. My dream.
He’s been there at my side at every step of the way.
And he deserves the truth.
“There’s a possibility I could bind myself to the Horned One’s Hallow,” I whisper, “and wrest his power from him if he rises.”
“He will not rise,” Thiago growls. “I will not lose you. I will not lose Amaya. And if that bitch thinks she’s going to harm either of you, then she knows not what she faces. We just have to get to Amaya and protect her. Angharad will have her bound within the Hallow. The second we’re all within its circumference, use the Hallow to get us out of there.”
It’s a simple plan.
They’re always the best.
I nod, and he kisses my forehead.
“Vi.” One last kiss-roughened word. I look up, and Thiago’s eyes turn sultry as he strokes my cheek. “Promise me you will get her out. Promise thrice.”
To promise three times locks me into a vow I won’t be able to break. “I promise—if I get a chance—that I will get her out of there.” And then I repeat the words twice.
“Even if I—or one of the others—isn’t within the Hallow.”
My lips stutter over the words.
“Done,” he whispers, and I feel the vow grab hold of me.
“On one condition,” I add.
Thiago goes still.
“Promise me thrice that if you’re the first to reach her and everything is going badly, then you will do the same.”
His jaw tightens.
But he gives me his oath, and then we both lean against each other.
“It’s time,” Eris says behind us.
I break away from him, breathing hard. It’s done. No matter what happens, Amaya will be safe.
Thiago tugs on the gauntlet that will conceal his powers. It makes his magic a mere whisper, and I can barely feel him through the bond we share, but his powers brew within him, and the second he needs to unleash his full strength, he can.
“Are we all ready?” Thiago calls.
