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There was no time like now. With a deep breath she rapped her knuckles on the door and stood back to wait.

Footsteps lightly hit the floor and the door swung inward. “Valeen,” he said in surprise.

The smells of sage and cedarwood lifted off his clean skin and hair. “Can we talk?” she asked.

“Of course.” He stepped aside and gestured for her to step in. He closed the door and made his way over to the huge four-poster bed. She wandered around the edges of his room. Taking in the furniture she’d come to know. The candlestick she once threw at him. The bed where she tried to kill him and made love to him. It felt different now, like she didn’t belong.

“How have you been?”

He smiled and shifted back on his bed to lean against the headboard. “You came to ask me how I’ve been?”

“I haven’t seen you in months. It’s a proper question.”

“Um, well.” He sighed and rubbed his chin. “I was worried and miserable. I was scared I made the wrong decision and also terrified it was the right one. I found your ring on the pillow in your room.” His gaze fell to her hand. “I see you have a new one, well, old one.”

She’d never taken off her wedding ring. She lifted her hand and inspected it like she didn’t have every curve and sparkle memorized. He already knew. “I want you to know I loved you. And if I was only ever Layala Lightbringer, you would have been it for me. You would have been my life, and my mate.” Tears filled her eyes. “But I’m Valeen, too. And like you said, remembering the past changed everything.”

He nodded, his chest rising. “We would have been happy.”

“Yeah,” she breathed. Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again, just like when he told her it was over months before. “We would have.”

“I wish loving you was enough. But he’s your soulmate. Before you left, deep down, I knew it would be him once you remembered.”

She swiped at her cheeks. “Why do you have to be such a good person? It would almost be easier if you were mad at me. You’ll always be important to me but it’s him.”

He chuckled. “I could never stay mad at you, and I know.”

She smiled through the heartbreak. “Despite every horrible flaw, every terrible thing he’s done. I love him. He was always supposed to be mine. And maybe now he won’t be so wicked.”

“I wouldn’t count on that. I think we’ve only gotten a taste of what he will do to destroy the council and protect you.”

“You’re probably right.” There was no depth he wouldn’t go to take vengeance for this punishment, to live up to the vow he promised the council all those years ago.

He nodded, his green eyes sparkling in the candlelight. “All I want is for you to be happy, Valeen. Him too.”

“But what about you?”

A single tear fell down his cheek but then he broke into a grin. “Well, it certainly won’t be with Varlett.”

They both laughed, and she said, “You’ll find her one day. Your wife. But she better be damn near perfect.”

“It will be hard for her to top you.”

She smiled. War had loved her for a long time, Thane too. “You’re coming with us to Runevale, aren’t you?”

He took in a deep breath and looked toward the window. The long sheer curtains blew in a gentle breeze. Crickets chirped and an owl cooed right outside on the balcony. “I don’t think I have a choice. You’ll need me to take on the council or we’ll all be right back to where we started,” he said. “And I can’t do this shit all over again. I can’t love you and lose you again.”

The bed creaked as he got up, his light steps padded on the stone floor as he sauntered over. She swallowed hard as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I let you go the day you went away with him. Becoming War changed me, too.” He lowered his voice and whispered, “But a part of me will always love you.”

* * *

She foundHel still in her old bedroom, sitting in the corner chair. The soft candlelight on the nightstand flickered and danced. Fingers drummed lightly on the armrest, like the steady beat of her heart. He looked dark and delicious watching her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. Something crossed between hunger and need.

Hel sat with his legs wide and patted his lap. With a methodical sway, she closed the distance slowly and dropped onto him. His fingers curled around a lock of her hair, brushed over her throat. With a flick of his wrist a shimmering bubble appeared around them, a veil of silence.

“I don’t want him to hear. I could hear your conversation like I was in the same room. These walls are thin.”

She knew he would. “Although a part of me is sad, it’s you I can’t live without. Even when I thought you used me, that it was Varlett you loved in secret, I was still so in love with you. It’s why I couldn’t face you back then. I feared I would give in even after what I thought I saw.”