Page 116 of Reign of Light
Tears blur my vision once again, and I know if I blink they will fall.
“Thank you, Edmond. For everything. All of it.”
Looking toward Weston, I find him already watching me, and I turn away with the fear that I’ll start crying too hard if I keep looking. “I’ll miss you.”
“And I you, Your Majesty. May I join you for a meal tonight, before I ready my things, and set my affairs in order? I would like to be present for the king’s funeral, but I do so want to hear about your time on Dawnlin.”
“No, you don’t,” Weston says with a wince, and a burst of giggles erupts from my chest.
“Oh, you mean you don’t want to tell him about how you stole my dagger and then used it to take me captive?”
He scrubs his palm down his face. “You were trying to stab me! What did you want me to do?”
“Not take me captive, that’s first of all.”
“It was for your own good,” he mumbles, and I laugh, before looking back to Edmond, to find his eyes shining as he watches us bicker.
“Well,” he breathes and clasps his hands together. “It seems we will have quite a bit to talk about over dinner.”
“At least she’ll be eating this time.” Weston shoots Edmond a glare and is only met with a beaming smile.
“I’m looking forward to hearing all the details.”
“Maybe not all of them,” Weston murmurs so only I can hear, and I try to stifle a smile.
Edmond crosses the room and unbolts the door before turning back to me and dropping into a deep bow. “Your Majesty.”
“See you soon, Edmond.”
The door closes behind him, and I sag into Weston’s side, pressing my cheek against his chest.
“The Guardian,” I murmur, and he lets out a sigh.
“Yeah.”
The silence is heavy, marred only by the crackle of the dwindling fire. After all the worry about becoming the Guardian, or doing everything to prevent it from happening, the magic still took one of the people closest to me.
But it didn’t take Weston.
“I’m sad to see him go, but I understand why he did it. I would have lost you,” I whisper as I play with a button on his shirt.
His hand cups my cheek, and his fingers wind through the hair at the back of my head.
“You’ll never lose me.” He tilts my neck gently then leans forward, giving me a soft kiss before pulling away slightly.
“I had to deal with the loss of my father a long time ago. I was so happy to finally see him again, and make up for the time we lost together. Though now we can’t, this feels less final than when I accepted his loss before. I’m still sad.”
I search his eyes and see the sadness there, no longer hidden from me, and it makes my own break through.
“Why are we losing everyone around us?”
“Some people are only meant to be in our lives for a short period of time. They show up when we need them, or when they need us, and then life goes on. Not every person is meant to be forever. Maybe Pop has taught us everything we need to know, and now he can move on to help the next person.”
Weston shifts his body and lifts his legs so he’s lying along the length of the settee, arms flexing as he lifts me and pulls me over him. I sink into the back cushions and wrap myself around his body, soaking up his warmth and listening to the beat of his heart under my ear.
“I do still need to talk to him though,” he says, his low voice grumbling in his chest. He lazily strokes the skin down the length of my arm, sending tingles cascading across my skin. I close my eyes and try not to let the sadness about letting people go take over, especially when I have the one I need right beside me. “He might be a meddler, but I have a lot to thank him for.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
