73. Heartbeat

Heartbeat

A stone hand grabbed the King of Flies by the throat. It flung him back down into his throne so hard I heard his teeth clack together.

Basalt loomed, taking the shape of a man, salt and earth shifting.

Sunlight illuminated dark soil; turned the dusty swirl of the air to golden haze. Wings of stone and dust spread and beat once, the dark basalt slicking down into the blackened-bronze feathers of a stymphalian bird. They gleamed in the dawn light, sharper than any sword.

Salted earth settled into place, leaving salt-sheened skin over smooth planes of muscle and bone. Black hair fell and tangled around fae ears. Ribs spread with each panting breath, moving easily, muscles shifting as metal wings folded along his back.

Those deadly wings were unmarred. Not one scar marked that long expanse of brown skin. The pale dawn light left nothing to the imagination. Only the haze of salt glittering across his nude form remained to say that he had once been stone and soil, as much a piece of the Court of Mercy as the mountains themselves.

The heartbeat at the center of the world beat in his chest, the same as mine.

My sword slipped from my fingers. It clanged on the ground and fell against Talien's feet.

I started backing up, eyes so wide it hurt, edging along the circle of beasts. That was— But he was—

He had fingernails, not claws. His golden eyes met mine with desperation, his wings and shoulders rising and falling as he panted.

"Lioness," he said, his voice hoarse. "Don't look at me like that. Don't—" He took a harsh breath, his eyes gleaming. "Please don't."

Talien sat there, unmoving, as still as a statue.

"Quyen," he pleaded. He looked at me with heartbreak painted across his beautiful face. "Love. It's me. Please. Let me in."

Opals. I had opals clenched in my fist, had been holding them so hard all this time that the metal fittings were cutting into my hand.

I jerked my hand away from them with a sharp sound of pain. They clattered onto the ground. One shattered, sending little brilliant pieces of stone skittering across the salted earth.

Everything flooded in, all the sensation that had always been mine to claim. Cold biting at bare skin, the weight of wings held mantled, dry earth against uncalloused feet and salt singing across an unpracticed tongue—Don't look at me like that, love, please, I'm not a monster, you promised you'd still see me as a man—want you need you love you, I love you, I love you—

"Cassie?" A hot tear cut down my cheek.

He let out a harsh sob. One hand went to his mouth. Cass nodded, his ears held low and tears gleaming in his eyes.

Talien got to his feet. Every eye in the room – human, fae, and animal – snapped to him.

"Merciful King," he said, his voice harsh. "You're on my land."

Cass growled, the dangerous sound of a predator. Every fanged creature in the room growled with him, Mercy voicing his displeasure.

"King of Flies," Cass said in a low snarl. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't shatter your throne and leave this palace a ruin."

Talien moved with the speed of a striking serpent. He kicked my sword into the air and flung himself at me, catching the blade by the hilt. He had me by the hair with the blade against my throat in a heartbeat, before Cass or I could react. A trickle of blood ran down my throat, the promise of death.

Snarling monsters edged closer. He dragged me back to his throne, defending his tiny patch of land. "Strike a bargain with me," Talien said. His pulse hammered against my back. Cass' heart beat slowly in my chest. "My Court for your Queen."

Don't you dare , I sent Cass, fury chilling my blood.

Cass turned back towards Talien with slow menace, all six-foot-seven of him. He stalked in a slow circle around the pool of bare ground at Talien's feet, the silent animals moving with him. "You truly are an arrogant bastard," Cass said, every word precise.

Talien turned with him, keeping his eyes on my deadly soulmate, breathing hard. The sword bit into my throat.

"You don't even have any metal between my Queen and your skin," Cass continued. His eyes hardened, the cold gaze of a hawk. "She's my balanced soulmate , Talien. I can cast through her as easily as I cast through my Court. As easily as I cast through my own body ."

Teeth gleamed. Eyes shone. The softness of the dawn took nothing away from the viciousness of an angry Court.

Through the eyes of wargs and hawks and rats, I watched the blood drain from Talien's face. Watched him realize how well and truly fucked he was—watched him decide to go down fighting.

His fingers tightened in my hair and on the hilt of my sword.

"Wrong choice," Cass said.

He didn't kill Talien. He commanded him. Talien moved like an automaton, lowering my sword from my throat and sheathing it for me. His hand loosened on my hair, still touching me, unable to escape the fate he'd chosen. He stood there, his heartbeat and breath held in regimented calm that I knew far too well.

Cass stalked over to the throne, naked and beautiful. He set one hand on the back of that stone seat with his golden eyes as cold as steel.

CRACK.

Every creature in the palace howled out victory as the Court of Flies fell, its King tamed and throne shattered. Cass bared his teeth in a silent snarl and held out his hand to me.

I stared at him. It was him. I knew it was him. I could feel him in my blood and my bones. All I had to do was lean into the bond between us, and I could hear his thoughts and wear his emotions, every gate of my soulmate's heart unbarred for me.

But he was dead. He'd been dead. He'd died in my lap , died right in front of me—

"It's alright, lioness," Cass said gently. "Come away."

Shaking, trembling, I reached out my hand and set it in his.

The universe moved with me. Our hearts beat in synchrony. His warm fingers closed around mine, and it felt like a memory I'd had since the dawn of time.

Moving with gentle care, Cass tugged me away from Talien. He picked me up in his arms and turned away from the frozen tableau. Come away , he said again, speaking the words into my soul. They fell like stones into a lake; leaving ripples across the surface, trailing bubbles as they fell into the deeps.

He crouched, holding me against his bare chest, and launched us into the sky.

I heard when he stopped holding the Court of Mercy at bay. A horde of beasts and monsters broke into cacophony, and, for one horrible moment, a man screamed.

Cass' wings swept against the sky in steady beats, taking us away from gods and monsters and fallen Kings. His arms held me and his heart beat with endless certainty. His heartbreak and worry curled through my veins, sorrow that made my eyes prickle with tears.

"Talk to me, sunlight," he said in a rough voice. "Please say something."

Those quiet words broke me. It all came flooding in, the ice of my rage shattering, leaving me with nothing but endless grief. "You were dead," I said, hands shaking. "You were… you were dead ."

"I know," he said softly. "I know, love."

"You died ." All my despair and agony came out in the words. My heart was a raw wound. Every beat ached, like my blood had turned to saltwater and was burning me from within. I couldn't stop the sob that tore at my ribs. "You— You—"

Cass cut me off with a kiss— you're safe, I love you, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here .

I started weeping in earnest, clinging to him. He was undeniably there , real and solid and so, so alive. Cass poured into me, holding nothing back, unfettered as the wind. His heart beat in my chest. His soul twined with mine. He was as much a part of me as my hands, my heart, the heat of my blood.

As long as you're alive, and as long as you have Mercy, I cannot die, he said, mind-to-mind and soul-to-soul. As long as I'm alive, and as long as I have Mercy, you cannot die. Cass kissed me again with slow care. Mercy is as much our body as the ones we wear. We're soulmated and land-tied. Your power binds and my power heals. You don't have to be afraid of losing me. "We're not quite deathless," he murmured aloud, nuzzling me as the broad sweep of his wings carried us home, "but it's pretty damn close."

Sobs tore at me, the tears blinding me. "Did you know ?" I asked, the terror of it all lacerating my throat. "Did you— Did you—"

"No," he said, the word thick. Cass started breathing harder, his own fear and pain rising to the fore. "Gods. I didn't know. I just—" His words choked off. "You were there," he said. A tear tracked down his face, pushed by the wind of his flight. "I was dying, and I finally saw you, right there . I couldn't—gods, I couldn't bear wasting the last moments of my life refusing to give you what you've always wanted from me. Even if it was only for a second… only one heartbeat… You deserved so much more. But at least I could give you that." Another tear tracked down his face. Cass couldn't even look at me, sorrow clawing at his expression.

I put my hand on his cheek. His eyes snapped to my face, desperate hope wrought in gold.

I brushed my thumb across the wet track on his face. He was like the sun in my sky. I stood on the fulcrum of the universe because Cass was my center of balance, and with him in my heart, I would always be able to step across the world and know exactly where I stood. I could feel it. All I had to do was think of him, and that bond between us came into perfect view, our souls so deeply entwined that we both had to fall for either of us to fall.

He hadn't ever truly fallen. Cass had been there the whole time, lost in the Court, the anchor of his body gone but the anchor of my soul one he could never escape. No matter how far he went or how lost he got, he was mine, and I could drag him back. As I'd dragged him back, demanding Mercy come with me to face Talien, refusing to let the man I loved fall into oblivion. My healer had answered me, and just as his body had fallen into dust, so from dust he had arisen. Cass was the Court, and Cass was mine.

A sentry and a mastiff. The storm and the sunlight. A Queen and a King—a conqueror and her Court. Two bodies with one soul.

"You gave me a lot more than a second," I whispered. The wind stole my words, but he didn't need to hear me with his ears to know the words of my heart.

The softest start of a smile warmed his face, more of a dawn for me than the rising sun. "Lucky me," he murmured back, the words as much in my soul as in his voice.

I turned my face and buried my nose against his throat. He still smelled like Cass, the warmth of that scent a sharp contrast to the icy wind sweeping across our skin.

He's naked , I recalled suddenly, my cheeks heating.

So I am , he said through our bond, sounding amused. You turned all my clothes to dust, along with the rest of me, and apparently I don't regenerate clothing. Cass paused, then added, Also, I seem to be overhearing your thoughts now . I hope that's alright.

I blushed harder. I, um. Did some time fuckery. And a rampage. It was a whole thing.

Cass rubbed his cheek against my hair. You must like me , he replied, with a shy nervousness that made me smile.

"I love you, even," I said out loud, my mouth touching his skin as I spoke. The heat of my breath against his throat warmed us both. I brushed my nose against his pulse, then looked up at him hopefully. "Take me home?"

He smiled down at me, eyes warm. "Gladly."