Page 73 of To Wake a Kingdom

Our foreheads pressing together, I inhaled his warmth and his scent. “There’s nothing wrong with wishing your parents were better than they are. And of course, I forgive you, Ronan. You’re the brightest spot in my life. I can’t believe you’re really here.”

Eyes searching, the force of his gaze chained me to the earth.

“I love you, Thorne.” He whispered it, but its strength and truth resonated as clear and solid as the ringing of crystal chimes.“I love your fire and your heart. I love your courage and every inch of your invincible spirit, my ferocious Little Lion. You have made me whole when I feared a piece of me would always be broken.”

“I love you too, Ronan. Oh, gods, I love you too.”

Of this, I was sure. I had never been so sure of anything in my life. His lips found mine in a kiss that folded, stretched, and filled every splintered crack and gaping crevice of my heart.

A moment later, that tingle of magic I’d come to recognize zipped through my body. It swept from the top of my head, down to my toes, shivers scattering down my back.

“The curse. We broke it.” My eyes floated shut. “But too late. I was too late.”

His arms wrapped around me, and I pressed my face against his chest as tears fell again.

Kianna moaned from her spot on the floor, and I ran to her. My arms wrapped around her, and she hugged me back, both of us sobbing. I didn’t want to think about how close I had come to losing her, too.

She surveyed the room, and I watched as the horror of it reflected in her posture, a hand coming to her mouth.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. They were all dead. I’d lost them all. I’d failed everyone.

Air. I needed air.

I turned and ran for the front door, bursting into the cold. My legs pounded the snow-packed ground as I slipped on the ice, catching myself before I continued running. Snow and wind lashed against me as I sprinted, holding my breath as my lungs burned.

Sliding to a stop, I stretched out my arms and hurled myself into the void as I screamed and screamed, needles carving against the back of my throat. The wind whipped my hair and my clothes, but I kept screaming, railing against fate and the world and every moment I’d been made to suffer through this cursed existence. My heart pounded as my soul came unmoored from itself, tumbling and turning, to be lost forever.

Everything spun. Around and around, the world spun. I waited for none of this to be real. To finally wake up from this nightmare.

But it was real. It hurt too much for it to be anything else.

Ronan turned me from behind, hands on my shoulders, and pulled me in.

“None of it mattered,” I said as I crumbled. “They were never going to survive. I failed them all.”

“You failed no one, Thorne. This isn’t your fault.”

My legs gave out, my knees striking the ground. Ronan came with me, his arms never leaving. I was sobbing so hard there was no sound, just the choked breath in my mouth. The weight of a kingdom gone forever crushed my chest, wrenching out every last drop of feeling.

“They’re all gone. I’ve lost them all.” The words tumbled to the ice, freezing there for eternity.

Ronan pulled me on his lap, where my head rested on his shoulder, snow gathering on us.“You have me. You haven’t lost everything. You will always have me. Forever. I am never leaving you again.” He smoothed the hair on my head, lips pressed to my temple as the snowfall twirled.

Eventually, Ronan scooped me into his arms. Our clothing was icy and wet, and I was shaking so hard my teeth felt like they’d crack.

He carried me back to the castle and lay me on my bed. “We need to get out of here,” I heard him say. “I don’t know if that sword killed Mare. If not, she’s going to come back. We need to run. Get Thorne away from here.”

“I’ll pack a bag. We need to change her into something dry.” Kianna tugged off my waterlogged boots. “Where will we go, my lord?”

“Estria. It’s where I can protect her best.” He paused. “I’m going to deal with my father’s body. It can’t stay there like that. Someone is going to find it.”

“What are you going to do?” Kianna asked.

“I’ll burn it. I’ll say I came across it in the woods and animals had mauled it. We’ll say he was knocked off his horse. No one else knows but the three of us?” A moment of silence.“Then this secret dies with us. No one can ever know what happened, for Thorne’s sake. Regardless of her valid reasons.”

“Yes, my lord,” Kianna replied.

Ronan pressed his lips to my forehead. “If you hadn’t, I would have killed him myself for what he did.” He said it softly, but his tone was savage, like he’d rip apart the world, piece by piece, with nothing but his bare hands.

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