I would wake any moment, warm and safe in Rían’s arms. I would find Keelynn curled up in the family room with a book. She’d smile at me, and we’d make plans to stroll through the gardens.
Hands clamped onto my shoulders. “Give me the dagger.”Rían.
My eyes met a sea of black, no sign of blue or gold in my husband’s stare.
His hands cupped my face gently. His thumbs stroked my wet cheeks. “The dagger, Aveen. Give it to me.”
If I gave him the dagger, he would use it to kill the Queen and lose his life as well. I couldn’t let him do that. “No.”
“You beautiful, stubborn woman. Can’t you see? If we don’t kill her today, all our lives are over.”
I knew he spoke the truth, but that didn’t change the facts. “We have to find another way. The dagger doesn’t work.”
His brows snapped together as his eyes fell to the dagger still clutched in my fist.
The only weapon capable of killing a true immortal had proven useless against the Queen. “What are we going to do?”
He stumbled back, his hands raking through his hair, leaving the mahogany strands standing on end. “Shit.”
“How will we win?” I choked.
Wide black eyes locked with mine. “We can’t.” With a flick of his wrist, the clash of swords and shrill screams erupted around us. “You need to leave.”
I couldn’t leave him all alone. I refused to go on without him. “No. If I am to die, I will do so by your side.”
Guards swarmed us from all sides. Rían cursed again, his gaze darting toward the approaching attackers. With a final curse, he shifted a sword and cut off the head of the closest guard. Another two came at my back. I raised the only weapon I had. The guard’s sword swung so swiftly, his blade blurred. I braced for a strike that never came. The weapon hit a ward I hadn’t created.
The guard must’ve realized he couldn’t breach the protective shell and set his sights on Rían instead.
A scream tore from my throat. My love whirled in time to cleave the guard’s head from his body.
Every single drop of magic Rían sent my way made him that bit weaker. When he made his final stand against the Queen, he would need every advantage.
Think, Aveen.
Our forces were overwhelmed, no hope of winning as long as those bloody guards kept coming. We may not be able to stop the Queen, but we could cut off her forces. The Queen couldn’t control them if she no longer held their hearts.
Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.
A pile of bodies stretched from where my husband stood only a few feet away, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Rían?”
He turned to face me, the darkness in his eyes stark against his pale face.
“I love you.”
His brows came together; tears swelled in his endless eyes. “And I love you.”
I took a few steps toward him, until my boots met the leg of a lifeless guard. “You must conserve your magic. Remove the ward.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I need to keep you safe.”
“I’ll leave.”
He evanesced to my side, and his hand slipped to the nape of my neck. “Do you swear?”
“I swear. This isn’t goodbye,” I vowed, my voice catching. “I will see you again.”