She’s my mate.
She’s my mate.
She’s my mate.
I shove two men aside, rip his hand off hers, and introduce his eye to my fist.Fuck,that hurt, but it’s worth it when the man stumbles back and falls into a table, knocking a slew of drinks to the ground. Shouts and cries erupt. Guards flood toward us. The man reaches me before the guards, landing a solid punch that rattles my teeth. He lunges again, but the guards grab him by the arms and hold him steady.
I’ll deal with him later.
There is someone far more important I must speak with first. I take Allette’s hand, but her fingers don’t lace with mine. When I try to guide her toward the closest alcove, she stumbles alonglike she doesn’t want to come with me. Which makes no sense. We haven’t seen one another in over four years. Surely she has missed me as much as I’ve missed her.
When we’re finally away from the fray, I draw the curtains tight, cutting out all light except for the sconce on the wall.
I can’t help but stare at her, memorizing the frown lines of her face in case she disappears again. She looks the same, but different. Her skin is far too pale. Her perfect mouth is pinched.
Gods, I still can’t believe she isalive.
“What the hell was that about?” Allette—my Allette!—hisses, her beautiful face fixed in a scowl.
Hold on. Is sheangrywith me? She shouldn’t be angry. She should be elated. “Why did you hit him?” she demands.
“You’re my mate, and he put his hands on you.” The bastard is lucky I didn’t take his fucking head.
Tears trail like ink down Allette’s pale cheeks as her stunning golden eyes fill with the same despair that lives in my very soul. “I haven’t been your mate since you abandoned me in the human realm.”
She thinks I left her by choice?
Why wouldn’t she? It’s not as if she knows the truth of what happened that night. I’ll set her straight, and then she’ll understand.
My hand squeezes hers. “The king’s men came for me. Knocked me unconscious and dragged me back to Kumulus. By the time I came to, it was too late to return through the portal.” Or so I thought.King Boris and his fucking lies. “For a year, I waited in agony to return to you.” I’d been so lost, pivoting from boiling rage to endless sorrow and back again. A feral beast pacing its cage until the moment that silver light shot into the sky.
Her head shakes, more tears spilling free. “You’re lying. You must be lying.”
I brush my thumbs beneath her eyes, catching every tear. “It’s not a lie, Allette. I was the first person through the following Samhain, but you weren’t there. I didn’t know where to start, so I returned to the cottage where we hid. The place had burned to the ground and there was a…” My racing heart thumps louder. “A body inside. A body with blue wings.”
Just saying those words is like a leaden weight crushing my chest, suffocating me.
Allette’s delicate brows come together, her eyes searching mine. “Senan, I waited at those stones every single year. No one ever came through.”
What is she talking about? The number of Scathians using the portal has doubled in the last few years. What the hell is going on?
Does it even matter? For too long, I’ve been broken, and now I’ve finally found my missing piece.
“I’m so sorry, my love.” Those words feel insignificant compared to the depth of my anguish and sorrow. I brush a curl from her face, longing to hold her close. To love her. I’d believed her dead. Gone forever. But she isn’t. She is alive and so desperately beautiful that I can hardly breathe. “Gods, I’ve missed you so much. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of you. Dreamed of you. Wished you were in my arms.” And now she is here.Here.
“You must think me a fool. I’ve seen you with your princess. The way you look at her. The way you whisper in her ear.” She draws back, and her throat bobs when she swallows. “The way you kiss her.”
How is that possible? I haven’t left the castle with Leeri. If Allette has seen the two of us together, that means?—
Oh, shit.
Herhair.
It’s not blue…
It’s black.
Does that mean?—