His eyes met mine, glistening with unshed tears.
No. No. No.
I stumbled back, ramming into the copper tub. “The dagger . . .” If I was a true immortal, I wouldn’t be able to use it. I wouldn’t be able to save him.
He cupped my face, stroking my cheeks with his thumbs. “This is brilliant news, Aveen. Brilliant.” He brushed a tender kiss to my temple.
I slid my hands over his. “No. No, it’s not. Your heart—”
His forehead dropped to mine, and he said with the sweetest smile, “You are my heart.”
I pulled out of his grasp, sinking onto the faded rug. This wasn’t the way our story was supposed to end. The Queen could take him from me at any moment. She could take him away and never give him back.
I wouldn’t let her. I couldn’t.
Rían dropped beside me, hugging his knees to his chest.
“We have to get your heart.” Our mission remained the same. We’d just have to find a way to go about it without the dagger. There had to be some way to retrieve it.
Rían eased forward, collecting another block of turf and throwing it on top of the fire. Orange flames licked at the brown log.
I could do this. I could save him. But to do that, I would have to give up my own life.
Perhaps the fortune teller was wrong.
Was I really going to give up on the off chance she wasn’t?
“I understand you’re scared,” I said to Rían as much as to myself, “but—”
“You’re feckin’ right I’m scared. You can’t imagine how scared I am. I have watched my mother tear the heart from a woman’s chest and consume her life force. I’ve felt her claws reach into my body to rip out mine. If you’re not scared senseless by the idea of entering that Forest, then you are a fool.”
I was scared. I was more scared than I would ever admit.
But just because we were scared didn’t mean we couldn’t succeed. “We can do this.”
He nudged the stone chimney with his boot, the corner of his lips crooking into a sardonic smile. “Immortal or not, you can’t set foot in the Forest.”
Set foot in. I smiled. “Then I’ll ride a horse through.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again.
“Or you can release me from the bargain,” I finished.
“Not. A. Hope.”
He wanted to be stubborn right now? All right. I could be stubborn too.
I tugged his collar, exposing the vicious scar like a silver necklace circling his throat. “Look at this.” I traced the smooth bubbled skin where they’d cut him. “You died for me today, Rían.You died for me. You don’t think I would do the same for you?”
“Aveen, listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me. If you give up now, she wins. If you leave me, you are letting her take away your soulmate. We can end this. Once and for all.”
“It’s not worth it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I rose to my knees, taking his face in my hands, forcing him to look at me. To see me. Tolisten. “You are worth everything to me. And because I love you, I will give you a choice. You help me get back your heart, or you refuse and I do it on my own.”
Rían studied me for so long, I thought he wasn’t going to respond.