Sixty-Eight Dianna

There, in the center of the cave, surrounded by a swarm of those bugs, I glimpsed his silver armor. My feet ground to a halt as he swung his sword, chopping away limbs and slicing torsos in half. For a man of his size, Samkiel moved with elegance and grace. He was every bit a warrior trained to kill, and nothing stood in his way. One by one, they fell, and one by one more emerged from the surrounding holes.

Lightbringer.

That’s what she had said. Samkiel was their target all along, and while he may be a fantastic swordsman, he was outnumbered and, by the looks of it, growing weary. His side ached, his power not fully his because it was still spread across the sky. Darkened mist danced around my form, and I was truly me again. Anger flared in my gut. These damned creatures were threatening to steal him from me.

I fought my way through to him and yanked the blade from his hand. He looked at me with bewilderment from behind his face shield as I spun it over my head, slicing two of the creatures in half.

“I’d die for you,” I practically yelled at him over the chittering of the creatures.

A creature screeched, advancing on us as I stared at Samkiel. I twisted the blade in my hand, the hilt burning my palm, but I didn’t care. I rammed the sword into the creature charging at my back, not breaking eye contact with him for a second. Samkiel watched me as I shook the gore from the blade.

He shook his head and flicked his wrist, summoning another sword. “And you think I wouldn’t do the same for you?”

“I love you. You are it for me and have been for a very long time.” My sword whipped over my head, blood spraying as I lopped the head off one of the bugs. Samkiel and I were fighting, yet our eyes were only on each other.

“Well, you’re it for me,” he yelled back, thrusting his blade to my side, impaling one of the creatures as it reached for me.

“I’m stupid.” I kicked my foot out, stomping on the chomping head that neared me. “I was wrong. I would rather fight every day with you than be without you.”

Samkiel raised his hand, light heating my cheek as it whizzed past my head. I felt the splatter of warm moisture as the creature charging at my back exploded. “As would I.”

I spun around him, going back to back as the bugs chattered, wings flaring. “Good.”

“Great,” he huffed before we pushed off each other.

We cut and maimed, limbs and wings flying. Soon, the floor was covered in corpses and twitching legs. Samkiel’s head lifted midstrike. I heard it, too. More bugs scurried in from our left. The holes there, that’s where they were coming from. That was the main port.

“Sami.” I pointed toward the main opening. It was the largest, allowing them to swarm.

“On it,” he answered.

He flicked his ring, returning his ablaze weapon to it. In the next heartbeat, a silver bow formed in his hand. Thick in the middle and curving up, it was nearly as tall as him. He pulled the string back, and an arrow made of light appeared. The creatures near the tunnel paused.

It was all he needed. Samkiel released, and the arrow hit right above the main entrance. The wall shook, and the stone split. Rocks fell, crushing the bugs that tried to scuttle back in. I stared at the twitching legs sticking out from between the boulders in disgust, listening to the deep rumble echo through the tunnels. For a moment, I worried the cavern would collapse, but it remained intact.

Samkiel stared at me, his eyes molten behind his face shield. The chill of battle had retreated, his eyes burning with the same heat I always saw in his gaze when he looked at me.

“You found me.”

“You find me, I find you,” I panted back, handing him his sword. It collapsed into his ring as soon as it touched his hand. “That’s how we work.”

His lips twitched in a barely there smile as he looked around. The scurrying in another section above us was a welcome distraction, our previous conversation a dead weight between us. “The hive is a labyrinth.”

“Yeah, I gathered that much,” I said.

“Don’t take an ablaze weapon from me again,” he said, nodding to my burned palm. “How’s your hand?”

I raised it, the skin knitting together slowly. “Right as rain or whatever. I didn’t hold it that long.”

Samkiel nodded, his hand clenching as if he wanted to reach for me to check. His boots crunched over bug remains as he stepped forward. He didn’t come to me, but around. He lifted his head, inspecting the cavern and the tunnels where the beasts had come in, making sure that all were clear. I knew what he was doing. He was avoiding eye contact and all contact in general.

Samkiel craned his head to the right, looking at a particularly wide hole. “This hive has to run through the entire city.”

“It would make sense. I found cocoons back there with bodies. A lot of them.” I moved to his side, and he deftly stepped around me.

“Her hive must have taken the city. They burrow as we have seen, but the last I knew, they stayed in the Otherworld. There is less sun exposure there. Someone must have brought them here. I don’t see how they could get this far on their own. Maybe a transport or something.”

“Hmm, that would make sense. I wonder who would bring them here, though, and why.” I sighed, folding my arms.

“I don’t know, but she’s been nesting here a long time. There is no telling how many eggs have hatched. We need to find the queen. We kill her, and the horde dies. If we leave her alive, she will just rebuild and repopulate.”

“Sami.”

He turned, but pain filled his eyes, not hope. He held his hand up to stop me, but his fingers slowly collapsed into a fist. “Not here. Or now. We can talk about it once we leave, but we need to find—”

“Ask me again,” I snapped, cutting him off.

Samkiel turned toward me, and his helmet rolled back, disappearing into the collar of his armor. Confusion marred his expression. “What?”

“Ask me again.”

I stepped forward, my hands in front of me, fingers intertwined. We were both covered in guts and bile, and gods knew what else. There was nothing romantic about this, but I stared at him and felt nothing but warmth. He was the one person who never abandoned me, no matter how cruel, vicious, or mean I was.

Samkiel had been there for me after I’d lost one of the most important people in my life, pulling me out of one of the darkest times of my life. He never judged or faltered, his love and loyalty a constant. I didn’t deserve him, and maybe he was right. A deep, dark part of me reveled in the fact I had finally done something to break us.

My fears were no longer present because they came true. The truth was he was too good for me, and I was more comfortable leaving. It was safer. I could protect my heart, my soul. The problem was, neither of them was mine any longer. They were his and had been for some time now. He had picked up the pieces, bit by jagged, broken bit, and put them back together. Somehow, he had healed them and made me whole. So even if my love was a dark, powerful, brutal thing, it was still just love.

“If I ask again, will you say no? Because I do not think I could stomach it.”

“Do you want the truth?”

He nodded, neither of us caring we still had a queen to kill and several more entrances those damn things could get through.

“I thought it was painfully obvious,” I said, blowing out a breath. “I’m an idiot.”

His head reared back. “What? No. You’re one of the smartest people I know. One of the smartest I’ve ever met.”

I shook my head. “Not when it comes to you.”

His eyes softened, his throat bobbing as if he’d swallowed whatever words he was about to speak.

“You’re right about a lot of things. I run when things get hard. Sometimes, I lock my emotions down and everyone out. I think the absolute worst, so yes, you leaving made sense. When you sent me away, I thought you had finally realized how damaged and broken I was and decided you deserved better. So I was going to deal with it. I had made up my mind that no matter what, I would still help you get your family back and save this blasted realm you care so much for. Even if you hated me for lying to you and hurting you again and wanted nothing to do with me.”

I paused, twisting my fingers together but refusing to look away from him. He deserved to hear this.

“So, when you asked, it scared me. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Samkiel, you are not anything I could have ever expected. You prove my worst insecurities wrong at every turn and make me see how good some people are. You make me feel. At times, being in this relationship with you is hard for me because I care so much. I don’t want to mess up, mess us up, and I don’t know what I’m doing. So yes, you’re right. I am a coward because quitting seemed safer. But then the ground split, and you disappeared. I was reminded once again that being without you is worse.”

He folded his arms across the thick breastplate of his armor, and I marveled at him. He was every bit a white knight, and now he was glaring at me. I expected him to tell me I was wrong, maybe with soft words or a hug, but not the grin that slowly formed on his face. “You’re right, too.”

“About which part?” I asked.

“You are an idiot.”

My hands dropped to my sides. “Hey!”

He took another step, this time not trying to stay away from me. “I want you to repeat in that glorious head of yours what you just said. How you’d help me save my family and the realms despite how you thought I no longer wanted you. You put yourself, your feelings, and your heart last again. And don’t think for one second I deserve anyone better than you. There is no one better than you. There never has been. No one is more courageous or godsdamn selfless. You ran into a hive full of flesh-eating acidic insects—”

“Wait.” I held up my hand, frowning in disgust. “Flesh-eating acid?”

“With no regard for yourself, to save me. So yes, you are an idiot.”

“I just—”

Samkiel lightly grabbed my arms. “How could I not be completely and utterly in love with you?”

“You love me?” My heart melted.

“With everything I am and everything I ever will be.”

My world stopped. It was fractured and remade with those words. They weren’t just words but a promise, a declaration from two people who had been burned by the world. We had lost everything and never wished to share with another so deeply. He had offered me his heart, and in return, I’d give him the broken pieces of mine. It was more than love for us, and I knew now it always had been.

Tears blurred my vision, and I lurched forward, my lips slanting across his. His mouth moved over mine, deepening the kiss. We froze and broke the kiss, both of us grimacing in revulsion.

“A perfect moment ruined by bug guts.” I swore, wiping and failing to remove the grime from my face.

Samkiel laughed as he did the same.

“Don’t laugh.” I glared. “It’s not funny.”

“Kinda funny.” Samkiel’s face scrunched as he wiped the bug grime at his mouth. “That was not well thought out.”

“No,” I agreed. “They taste just as bad as they look.”

Samkiel made a face and lowered his hand. “I am sorry I left as I did. I had good intentions, even with how I was hurting at the time.”

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” I said, meaning every word. “Truly—”

“We’ll talk about it later.” He gave me a small smile. “First, we still need to leave this place.”

“Right. Kill the mega queen.”

“But first.” He reached beneath his armor and pulled out the ring he’d wrapped in a piece of thin black material. “Dianna. Ayla. Akrai. My world. My life. My love. Will you marry me?”

“No.”

His brows drew together so tightly I worried about his face freezing that way. My smile was so big it made my cheeks hurt. “I’m kidding. It’s yes. It’s a thousand times, yes.”

The cavern trembled violently, almost knocking us over. A roar reverberated through the air, this one far too loud to be the creatures we’d been fighting. Samkiel grabbed me as the ground bucked beneath us, throwing us off balance.

We turned in mid-embrace, creatures emerging from tunnels on all sides, debris and dust raining down all around us. The queen was royally pissed and looking for blood.

“I hope that’s a serious yes because we have an enormous problem now.”

I gave him my hand, extending my finger. “It’s a yes. Now give me my damned ring.”

His smug, male smirk was adorable as he placed the ring on my finger. Heat coated my skin, a warm, tingly feeling washing over my body before fading away. He rubbed his thumb across the stone, and silver armor flowed over my body, covering me from head to toe. Samkiel did not just give me a ring. He offered me protection, too. I had so many questions, but the first wave of insects reached us, with the second horde right behind. My admiration and curiosity would have to wait.