Page 133 of Evermore

“Those that would see Aldus’s only living heir take the throne, stand.”

One by one the council members around the table rose, some more reluctant than the others, but after several minutes of continued back and forth, all council members stood.

Archer gulped. Quietly, but it’d happened. And I was almost sure at this point I could feel his nerves rattling my mind. But they could have been mine.

“The council will allow three months for you to select a suitable bride,” Bremen continued. “Once the marriage is performed, you may take your father’s place.”

Archer’s fingers whitened on the arms of his chair. “And if I refuse?”

“Then the crown passes to the next eligible candidate,” Lady Kendrick said smoothly. “One who understands the demands of the position.”

The Remnants swirled over my bare arms as I watched my best friend’s freedom slipping away. He would do it. I knew he would. He’d sacrifice his own happiness, his own choices, just as his father had. Just as they all did, generation after generation, bound by laws that cared nothing for the hearts they broke.

But this was Archer. My fierce, loyal friend who’d never wanted a crown, who’d spent his life masquerading as a snob, only to steal from the richest of this kingdom. And now he was to rule them all. But three months was nowhere near enough time to find love.

The council continued debating the finer points, but their voices faded to a distant hum as I stared at Archer’s profile. In the space of a week, he’d lost his father and his freedom. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.

43

Thorne

She moved like a shadow through starlight, stepping onto the rooftop of the Syndicate house with that dancer’s grace that still made my breath catch. I’d been sitting up here for hours, watching the moon track across the sky as I tried to make peace with her bargain. With those ten precious years she’d given away as if they meant nothing. As if I hadn’t spent centuries fighting for every moment I could have with her.

“You’re brooding again,” she said, settling beside me on the edge of the roof.

“I do not brood.”

“Really?” She bumped her shoulder against mine. “Then what do you call sitting alone in the dark, staring moodily at the stars?”

“Strategic contemplation.”

Her laugh, low and warm, did things to my careful control. “Is that what the gods are calling it these days?”

I turned to look at her, drinking in the sight of her profile gilded by moonlight. “Dance with me,” she said suddenly, rising to her feet and holding out her hand.

“Right now?”

“Afraid of heights, Husband?”

The challenge in her voice made something possessive stir in my chest. She hadn’t called me that since she’d learned the truth of who I was. I took her hand. “Afraid of you, maybe.”

“Good.” She stepped into my arms with easy familiarity, and my body responded instantly, hardening. Fucking aching. “You should be.”

We swayed together beneath the stars, no music but the sound of crickets and distant birds. Her head came to rest against my chest, and for a moment, I let myself pretend we were simply a man and woman dancing.

“Talk to me,” she said softly. “I can feel you thinking too hard.”

I remembered all the times I’d held her like this in other lives, other dances. “Ten years is a long time, Paesha.”

“Or a very short time, depending on your perspective.” She lifted her head to meet my gaze. Her eyes flicked away and back again so quickly, if not for my obsession with every move she made, I might not have caught it. The sign of her madness, if we could call it that. “You’re immortal, remember?”

“And you’re not.” The words came out rougher than intended. “You’ve never lived past thirty-five in any life. Never. And now you’ve given away a third of what little time you might have had.”

“To protect Archer.” Her fingers curled into my shirt. “To keep him safe. You must see how that was the right move.”

“I would have torn Vesalia’s mind apart first.”

“And started a war we can’t afford to fight.” She rose on her toes, pressing a kiss to the underside of my jaw. “Sometimes the only choice you have is which pain to bear. I stood in Alastor’s office right beside you when Ezra shot that arrow. I saw the look in his eyes. Ten years was nothing compared to everything else happening.”