Chapter 50

CHAPTER FIFTY

I draw such a sharp breath that it hurts.

No. It can't be him. It looks like him. Somewhat like him. But it can't be him. "How are you?—?"

How is he here?

"You can't be here." I stumble backward, desperately trying to remember that I can't go to him. I can't touch him. I need to keep him safe and alive, even if safe and alive means far away from me. "You can't come near this crown."

"I'm not afraid of it," he says, stepping toward me instead of away. "I'm not afraid of you, Caera."

I growl back at him with all my fury. "You may not be afraid, but I am. I lost you once. I can't lose you again."

He stops moving. "You won't lose me." The corners of his mouth hitch up. Hesitant. "I have power of my own. You gave it back to me. You can't hurt me."

"What… what power?"

Now, he smiles. "Come closer, and I'll tell you all about it."

I scowl at him, not quite believing him. Still, I take a very small step forward. "There. Now tell me."

He tilts his head. "That isn't close."

I glare at him. Then I take another step. Surely close enough now. "What power?"

He shakes his head, but his voice is gentle. "Not even remotely close enough."

To my dismay, he takes a step back. Away from me, and it's as if a thread between us stretches painfully. A thread I didn't know had formed between us so instantly.

Then he does it again, taking another step back.

My eyes widen. A louder snarl leaves my lips, this one filled with the fury of my power. " Stop ." My voice is a command. "Do not—" I draw a sharp breath, trying to constrain my fears and my needs. "Do not come back to me and then?—"

He stops still, but only for a second.

His feet are moving again, but I can't let him go.

Only moments ago, I feared for him, but the power radiating out from him…

Oh, that power .

I don't know what it is, but it's even more intoxicating than the darkness I control.

Suddenly, I'm running toward him, throwing myself forward and into his arms. "Don't go."

He catches me, pulling me upward, enveloping me in arms that are full of strength.

My throat is so strangled with sadness and fear that I can hardly speak. "Don't go."

He cradles my head in his hands. "Caera, how could I ever leave my heart?"

He scoops me up and turns toward the trees, carrying me while I wrap my legs around his waist and hold on as tightly as I can.

With every step he takes, I push away my fears—so much terror that the crown will hurt him—but the light around him doesn't wane.

He doesn't falter or stumble.

Into the shadows we go and everywhere he steps, the light seems to grow, an impossible light that breaks through the darkness.

With it, comes calm.

More calm than I've experienced ever since I healed him and sent him away.

But at its edges is a tension I can't deny.

My cheek is pressed to his jaw and his eyes consume me. The touch of his hands consumes me. I don't know how far into the wilderness he's carried me by the time he stops. There are paths and huts scattered throughout this place, and we could be near one of them or far away from all of them. I don't even care.

A sense of desperation rises within me because this can't be real.

He can't be real.

"You're a dream," I say, my eyes burning with tears. "I've conjured you with my hopes and you aren't really here."

His reply is a brush of his lips to the corner of mine. "I'm here."

"No."

I'm suddenly struggling in his arms, pushing myself to the ground.

"Too cruel." I shake my head at him. "I don't get a happy ending. I'm a dark creature. Love does not belong to me. Happiness is not for me to claim."

Tears drip down my cheeks, and I can't stop them.

I back away so sharply that I bump into the tree at my back.

He reaches for me, one hand raised, his gaze suddenly filled with concern. "You made a mistake," he says.

I was sliding to the side of the tree and now I stop. "What?"

"When you made me whole, you made a mistake." His hand remains raised toward me. "It's how I'm here. It's how I remember you."

"What mistake?"

"You commanded that I have the magic I was meant to have."

Once again, he edges toward me, his form so tall, so imposing that he casts me into shadow.

"I don't understand."

His tone softens. "I was meant to have the magic of your darkness in my life, Caera."

I've paused for too long, and now he reaches for me again, his hand rising to my cheek, the softest touch. "There is no balance for pure light without pure darkness. You are my balance."

He lowers his head to mine. Brushes his cheek to mine. "I'm here. I'm not leaving. You are my other half. I need you in my life."

I press my face to his, letting my tears fall, listening as he continues.

"At first, you were only in my dreams," he says. "Night after night, I would wake up feeling as if I'd been ripped apart. I had no name for you. I didn't know who you were. I searched for you among the light magic creatures, hoping to find you. Searching all the faces. But I was looking in the wrong places. Asking the wrong questions. I should have been searching in the shadows."

He stops to draw breath. "Finally, I asked the right questions, and the supernaturals who were trying to help me… they couldn't deny me the answers."

He slips his arms around me, pulling me away from the tree.

"You are every bit as ferocious as you were in my dreams," he says. "I want all of you. Need all of you. I can't fall asleep another night without you."

I don't wait for more. I can't.

I push myself upward, needing his lips on mine. "Then don't."

With a groan, his mouth claims mine.

I give in to the heady rush of need, tearing at his clothes, trying not to scratch his skin with my claws, which, despite my best efforts, just don't want to stay retracted.

There are so many contradictory parts of me. Metallic angel wings. Wolf's claws. Blacksmith's power. And right now, they're all clashing within me.

"Don't hold back, Caera." He groans against my mouth. "I don't want a restrained version of you. I want all of you."

I can't get my clothes off fast enough.

He can't seem to lift me fast enough.

Our bodies crash against each other, fitting perfectly as he takes me against the tree, every wild thrust driving me higher until a perfect release washes over me.

Oh, but it will never be enough.

We drop to the ground, me on top of him, where I plant my hands on his chest, drop my mouth to his, and kiss him while my body rocks against his.

All the push and pull.

The light and dark.

I don't know what his power is now. All I know is that it balances mine. All that matters is the rhythm we beat out together.

A perfect connection that's all ours.

My back arches as we crash again, our bodies slick with sweat, our chests heaving, and I drown in his eyes. Drown in his body.

And now—finally—I can believe that I'm not going to lose him.

We end up beneath a patch of clear sky where the branches don't conceal the beautiful darkness above us.

I'm not certain what the future holds for us, but I know one thing: I will fight for it.

I will not give up the peace I've wrought, and I will not give up his love as long as he's willing to share it with me. Never again.

I nestle against his side, my upper leg resting over his hips while I wait for my breathing to settle enough to ask him what I need to know. "What name did you choose for yourself?"

His voice rumbles at my ear. "Ah, but to tell you that, I need to tell you a story that started a long time ago."

I lift my head from his chest, needing to see his expression. "How long ago?"

He gives me a mysterious smile. "Very long ago. And it's a story that doesn't start with me."

I narrow my eyes at him, a little bit of darkness making me impatient. "A story that starts with someone else? Well… does it have betrayal and death and darkness? If so, I will listen."

He pulls me upward to kiss me, a demanding kiss that heats my body. So much heat that I find myself wondering how much of his story I'll listen to before I distract him…

"Betrayal," he says. "A lot of betrayal."

His fingertips play across my back as I wait for him to continue.

His smile grows. "Once upon a?—"

"Ugh!" I press my palms to his chest, my claws extending as I slip my legs to either side of his hips. "Start like that and I'll find other things to do."

He laughs. "Wait, you need to hear the next bit."

I give him a pointed stare. "Which is?"

His voice lowers to a dark rumble. "There was a sky filled with blood, a beast filled with rage, and a silver-haired woman gifted with more power than she realized."

When I continue to consider him, he asks, "Want to hear more?"

I can't help my smile as I flex my fingers against his muscled chest and lean down to kiss him, inhaling his new scent and welcoming all the promise in his eyes.

"Tell me," I say. "Tell me everything."

A sky filled with blood, a beast filled with rage, and a woman whose power would alter fate… and lead to the creation of the keepers…

If you want to know more, check out the Kingdom of Betrayal series, starting with A Sky Like Blood .