Page 80 of Reign of Light
“Count on it,” I say. “I’ll be expecting an invitation.”
Weston holds the pouch out to them, and both reach out, their hands disappearing into the fabric, only to reappear a moment later, the space between their fingers glowing brightly despite the light of the day.
It’s as if the rest of the island falls away as they turn toward each other. Nothing else exists—not Weston, not me, not the crash of the waves or the heat of the suns. Sig and Jorn stare into each other’s eyes, unspoken words passing between them. Jorn leans down and gives her one last brush of a kiss, then, their movements mirroring each other, they each lift an arm, and let the dust fall over their heads.
The gold sparkles and the air starts to shimmer as my friends slowly disappear, leaving Weston and me alone.
The only two left in Dawnlin.
I stare at the empty space Sig and Jorn occupied just moments ago, my eyes aching from all the crying, and my jaw clenching so hard my teeth feel like they are going to crack. My eyes sweep over the normally bustling deck, the emptiness making the pit in my stomach feel even deeper.
When my gaze finally settles on Weston, I swallow hard.
“It’s our turn, princess.”
Hot anger bubbles up inside me, completely overshadowing the sorrow and emptiness I felt only a moment ago, and I finally snap.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop fucking calling me that!”
After all the history between us, everything he had to get past to see me as me, not the princess he had to protect, it frustrates me knowing hewon’t stop, even though I have asked. It became a joke after he finally uttered my name for the first time, but now, after all of this, I don’t want to be reminded of every time I felt rejected by him because of his duty and oath to my father.
Especially not now, not in one of the hardest moments of my life, after I’ve said goodbye to everyone I care for.
I spin around and grip the rail, staring hard into the rolling water below. The quick anger is probably a result of the onslaught of emotions I’ve had to deal with in the last day, but now, as I stare into the waves, my outburst having settled between us, I feel a twinge of guilt. He’s had to deal with just as much as I have, if not more. But he’s the only one I can show my true self to, the only one who can see the real me, not the version of me where everything I feel hides beneath the surface. He’s the easiest person to unleash my anger on. The safest. The one who won’t hate me or fault me for any of my feelings, and tries to take them and bear the pain himself to save me from it.
“Lennox.”
I try to hide my wince as his hand settles on my waist, softly nudging me to turn back toward him, but I resist his pressure.
“Lennox, look at me.”
Letting out a breath, I reluctantly turn back around and stare up at him, but just as I expected, his sorrow and acceptance of my verbal lashing is written all over his face, and it all but extinguishes the fire beneath my skin.
“I can’t.”
“What are you talking about, Weston? You can’t understand that I don’t want you to call me that anymore?” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I understand you want me to stop, but the moment we step back into your kingdom, you are the princess. I can’t.”
My arms untangle and slowly fall to my sides as his sad gaze holds mine.
He can’t.
Because we’re going home.
There is no more forgetting who we are, no more pretending I am just Lennox. I am the princess, and will be to him, despite everything that has happened between us.
No matter how much he loves me.
No matter how much I love him.
Our titles will always separate us. Our duties will pull us apart unless we’re alone, hidden away behind closed doors.
I spent months trying to get him to see past that title, to see only me, Lennox, not the princess. To live in the moment, here on Dawnlin, where we didn’t have to answer to anyone but ourselves. To suppress his deep devotion to his duty as the First Guard, only for all of it to return the moment we can go home.
And for me to have to do the same, and become the princess and future queen I am meant to be.
My chin quivers as I look into his eyes, and see everything I’m feeling reflected at me.
