Page 92 of To Wake a Kingdom

His answering smile was tight and sad.

Taking his face between my hands, I stared into his dark green eyes.“But this isn’t all bad. At least now we can be together. That is what I wanted from the moment I saw you, Ronan. You light all of my darkest corners and fill them with sunshine. I want to be by your side forever. You have a chance to bring peace to your kingdom. No more warring with the Fae. It could be a bright and wonderful future, and we could make it happen. It’s the only thing I want.”

That smile I loved so much lit up his face. “That’s all I want too, Thorne.”He opened his mouth as if preparing to say something else, but instead, he scooped me up and took me to bed, where we made love until the sun came up.

For the first time since I’d awoken in that cursed castle, my second chance felt so close I could trace its outline with the tip of my finger. I allowed the barest sliver of hope to leap from its place at my feet and lodge like a spark inside my chest, flickering faintly. Once, I would have tried to suffocate it, denying it the air it needed to breathe into fire.

But I was done believing in darkness.

I wanted light.

I wanted salvation, and I was ready to burn.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Afewdayslater,we gathered for Ronan’s coronation—a celebration hastily stitched together with fraying strings and threadbare cloth. Luella and the girls had put me in a simple white dress that trailed along the floor, a stole of pure white fur wrapped around my shoulders. My hair down, Marie had curled and adorned it with winter blossoms before placing my pale silver crown on my head.

In the castle garden, Ronan stood with his mother, the noble heads bearing witness. Snow fell gently, settling on our shoulders and dusting our hair. With Kianna at my side, we waited near the dais. Noah and Em, dressed in their ceremonial armor, beamed proudly at their friend. Their brother. Their king.

Nearby, Maida and Alban lurked, their presence a reminder to everyone of the consequences of rebellion.

Watching Ronan, I was struck like a bell. Again, he wore his black and gold armor—a king and warrior. Now I was his, and he was mine. This was more than enough. After everything, it was more than I could have ever hoped for.

After Ronan was crowned, he took my hand, and we exchanged a smile that conveyed a myriad of emotions wrapped in paper and string. A promise and an oath. To love and protect until the very end of our days, as we had once sworn to each other in a cursed castle on the edge of a decaying kingdom.

Ronan pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you,” he said. “We will be happy. I promise I will do everything to make you happy.”

“I already am, Ronan. How could I not be with you?”

At that moment, everything seemed possible. For a brief, glittering second, I allowed myself the luxury of dreams. To tread sands of joy, kicked up on sun-warmed winds.

But I should have remembered that was never meant to be my destiny.

A noise like the tearing of souls ripped through the garden, and every thought in my head sharpened as the devil came crashing in.

After all, happy endings were only for the hallowed, and fairy tales weren’t real.

The ramparts of the castle exploded as stone shattered, and something large and scaled and so black it drank the light, landed in the center of the garden. Legs bent to cushion its descent, it stretched to its full and terrible height. A demon, a monster, the lord of the underworld itself stood before us, leathery wings spread wide.

Chaos erupted.

Screams filled the air as it stalked toward me and Ronan. His sword out, grim determination set in his posture like hardened clay. The demon’s feet scraped the stones, three long toes tipped by even longer claws. The same tracks that had surrounded the mutilated bodies of a dozen innocent people sacrificed at my door.

Ronan was shouting orders at the guards who attempted to wound the demon, their arrows and blades futile against its thick hide.

But I already knew it was no use.

The demon didn’t fight back; it only stared at me, and I understood why it was here. The gleam in its eyes was intelligent, almost human. This was no rabid beast. No mindless minion. It was a servant, an unholy messenger sent to deliver me to my inescapable fate.

Why I thought I could ever run from this, I’d never know.

One of its great clawed feet lifted, and it prowled toward me.

Holding me behind him, Ronan acted as my shield. My protector. My true love.

But he would not die for me—not today or on any day.

“Ronan,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love you. I am so grateful for every moment we had together. I’m sorry we didn’t have more time, but I’ve always belonged to a different fate. Your memory will keep me whole when I am broken. Thank you for everything.” I kissed him and filled it with every ounce of joy and light he had brought to my dark and bewitched life, though it could only be a shadow of all he had given. “Goodbye,” I whispered. And before he could react, I ran.

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