Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

She lunged toward me, tiptoeing up and kissing me fiercely for two short, sweet seconds before running around and climbing onto my back. And something told me that might be my last good moment in this world.

“I love you, Lance,” she whispered in my ear and her words filled me all with the strength I needed to face down the five Nymphs coming our way.

I shot to the centre of the arena, hefting the bat into my grip and tucking the knife into my waistband. I knew the odds of this game were vastly weighed against us. But I would fight until my very last breath to keep my girl safe. Death would have to try and rip her from my arms itself if it wanted her, and even then, I would not let go.

Tears slipped down my cheeks and I barely felt the pain of my injuries at all as I gazed at my mate in front of me. A man I had chosen for myself, regardless of stars and fate and laws. He was mine and I was his. Now and always. In the end, he’d kept his promise to me after all and I’d kept mine. We’d fought for each other until we couldn’t fight any more.

I breathed him in and cursed the world for not giving us a chance. Or maybe we’d had one and this was the price of screwing it up.

“Don’t let go of me,” I begged against his mouth.

He held me tighter as he tried to get up once more, but too many of them were pinning us down. “See you in the stars, Blue,” he swore, his lips brushing mine.

“I know this means nothing now, but if I don’t say it I’ll hate myself,” he said, his voice dark and rough. Silence stretched for a long moment as I waited for him to continue. “I love you, Blue. I loved you then, I love you now, I’ll love you tomorrow even if I’m no longer on this earth. No time exists where I won’t love you.”

“Lance, please don’t say goodbye,” my words caught in my throat as pain burrowed into my core.

“I have to,” he rasped. “Just in case. I’m so fucking sorry for everything I did to you. To us. I ruined everything. And I know it can’t be fixed. That I made it nearly impossible for you to trust me when we first met, and when you finally did and I earned your heart, I broke that trust irreversibly.”

“Oh shit,” I breathed, looking at the mess we’d made of Gabriel’s home.

“You can burn the house to the ground if you want, beautiful, I’ll happily rebuild it brick by brick when you’re done with me.” He captured my chin, yanking me back to look at him and my breathing faltered as I fell into the endless depths of his eyes. The truth sat on my tongue, weighing it down as heavily as lead. That I’d never be done with him. I loved him too completely. In every minute of every hour, right down to the space between seconds.

“Darcy, I…” He shifted closer to the wall, reaching through it once more and I laced my fingers between his as my heart ached. “If this is my last promise, please know I won’t break it. I swear that no matter what happens, I will fight to save you.”

Tears burned my eyes as I gripped his hand tighter. “I’ll fight for you too,” I swore. Just like we had all those months ago. Before I’d lost everything.

I pushed away all of the doubt and fear inside me over us and just took one sweet moment for myself, surrendering to this love and letting it consume me like fire. The second I pulled him closer, he groaned in desperation and my heart beat like powerful wings as his mouth fell against mine. I knew nothing was fixed between us, that it possibly couldn’t ever be, but I’d craved him for so long and I couldn’t think. I wanted it to be us again. Just one more time.

“Blue,” Orion shot in front of me, gripping my crop top in his fist.

“What?” I demanded, looking up at him in surprise as my heart juddered.

“You’re going to be a queen,” he growled. “Just like your ancestor. I can feel it, I fucking know it.”

“How do you know?” I asked, doubt flitting through me.

“I’ve known since I crowned you in my car. Just don’t ever forget you were my queen first.” He yanked me forward and his mouth met mine, his kiss urgent and furious and I couldn’t help but give in to it for two whole seconds. I felt urged toward him as if by the stars themselves and I remembered what it was like to have him as my will was broken down inch by inch.

You freed me from the shadows. You saved us. I was the one who…” He laid his mouth on my throat where the knife had kissed my flesh and a shiver darted down my spine.

“Stop,” I said but it came out husky, more like a plea for him to continue than anything else. After coming so close to losing him again, all I wanted to do was pull him nearer and never let go. But there was still an abyss parting us that couldn’t be crossed. “It wasn’t your fault.”