Page 69 of Seduced By Darkness
And the brash words hide her inner heart.
You don’t get a piece of me,says the twitch of her brow.
You don’t get that combination without some sort of abuse.
The only thing she’s done in the past three days that revealed any hint of her true self was to rescue Finn.
It’s the hope I cling to now. It has to be enough.
It’s also highly revealing.
She’ll protect others, but she thinks she stands alone. And her defiance is still skin deep. It consists of careless words, a breathless shrug and then those fists clenching as she prepares to endure. Convincing her to take this step with me was the hardest battle, because I’m asking her to fight back. I’m asking her to truly defy her mother. Not with words, not by locking her heart away where it can’t get hurt, but by risking everything.
Discovering the truth of her birthright was a shock, a punch to the face. It hurt, because it smashed my dreams to pieces. All I could see was Adaia.
I didn’t even think of what it would be like to be raised by that snake.
I barely know her.
But I know this: Hope.
“Are you ready?” I ask.
Vi lets out a shudder. “I’ll never regret this.” She lifts those midnight blue eyes to mine. “I want you to know that. This is the first choice I’ve ever made for myself. I willneverregret it.”
It’s a knife to the chest.
The Darkness chuckles within me.
“Good.” I don’t know how I manage the word, but it’s clearly less than she expected, and I can’t explain….
“Do you, Thiago of Evernight, pledge your troth to the Princess of Asturia?” The priestess binds our hands together with a silken cord. It will stay bound until dawn breaks the sky. “In the name of Maia, in the name of the blessed light, do you promise to pledge your heart and soul to this woman?”
“I promise.” There’s no more doubt within me.
“Will you grant her forever by your side?
“I promise.”
“Will you shield her from darkness and allow only light into your heart?”
It’s harder to make this pledge, because the darkness is withinme. But I’ll protect her from that. I won’t let them hurt her. I won’t ever give into the monster inside me, the one that hungers and yearns. I will be everything she needs me to be. Andthatis what I can promise.
“I promise.” Capturing Vi’s face with my free hand, I lean down and whisper against her lips. “You are my light in the darkness. You are everything I’ve ever yearned for. I will love you forever, if only you let me. I promise now. I promise thrice. Thus let it be said, thus let my oath stand unbroken.”
“I promise now. I promise thrice. Thus let it be said, thus let my oath stand unbroken,” whispers the Darkness.
There’s a shiver of heaviness in the air, a sense of something listening. It feels like there’s a storm on the horizon, the air thick with tension, but there’s no sign of any clouds on the horizon.
Even the priestess looks up from her book.
Maybe it’s the Hallow? There is power in these old places, after all. Or maybe… the Darkness spoke those words into the world and something heard them.
The thought rouses a shudder.Be gone.
Vi glances around as if she feels it more than me.
But I brush my lips against hers, and her distraction is shattered. She leans into me, kissing me back so softly it makes my heart sing.
