Page 68 of Claimed By Stone
And then there was Thavros.
A sob escaped my mouth at the mere thought of him.
I could hurt him. I could hurt all of them. I couldn’t bear the thought.
What was I going to do?
After who knows how much time, I knew what I must do. I was going to have to tear my own heart out to make sure the people in this mountain remained safe.
I stood up, wiped the tears from my face, and brushed the dust from my gown before finding my way back to Thavros's chamber.
I got a bag out and started packing. Although when I looked in the wardrobe, the only thing that truly belonged to me was the gown I'd come to life in. That gauzy, flowy dress was far from practical for an escape from a mountain in the north in January.
I stuffed it all in the bag, even the herbal tea, because if I was leaving, I couldn't get pregnant. And maybe I shouldn’t, but I grabbed a journal to remember Thavros by, but not before I ripped out a piece of paper to leave him a note.
I wrote him a note as tears streamed silently down my face.
I left the tear-stained letter on the table as I pulled the cloak from the closet. Surely Callie wouldn't miss this. My heart ached again at the thought of leaving her and all the orcs I have come to love on this mountain.
But that was precisely why I must leave. I couldn't bear being their ruin.
Chapter 28
Thavros
After speaking with Maluk, I made my way back to our chambers, anxious to find Seraphina. The stress of planning this event was written all over her face today. Although there was a little thought in the back of my mind telling me it was more than that. I needed to hold her and get to the bottom of what was bothering her.
But when I entered our chambers, it was empty. Seraphina was not here. The worry coiled tighter as I tried to breathe.
Then I caught sight of a note, sitting neatly folded on our table, and my heart stopped.
It took everything I had to walk over to it. I picked it up, and it still smelled like her —wildflowers and old books. The smell usually filled me with deep peace, but right now I couldn’t help the dread that was weighing deep inside of me.
Her words hit like a blade to the gut:
Thavros,
You deserve a mate who was born to love you, not built to break you. I will not be the ruin of your people. I must leave.
I will never stop loving you,
Seraphina
I sank to my knees, gripping the note, my vision blurred with unshed tears.
What did this mean? I could not lose her. I would not lose her, not while there was still breath left in my body. She was mine.
Then the stillness broke, ripping a growl from deep inside me, feral and desperate.
I bolted from our chambers to find my mate. She was not leaving.
The corridors of the mountain stronghold blurred around me, torches and startled faces flickering past like ghosts. I barely registered the way the cold bit at my skin as I burst past the guards stationed near the entrance. Snow whipped through the air, sharp and blinding.
Gods, there she was.
Her cloak was pulled tight around her shoulders, her form small against the yawning mouth of the mountain. One more step, and she would’ve been lost to the dark. To me.
I roared her name. “Seraphina!”
