Page 55 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Emelyn

I had been a shell of a person all day.

I sat alone in the dimly lit room, the heavy weight of grief pressing down on my chest, suffocating me. The world outside my window carried on, oblivious to the storm raging within me. Tears welled up in my eyes, threatening to spill over, but I fought to keep them at bay.

I lay in bed, readying for a sleepless night, just as the door to my room opened.

Kade walked in quickly, making his way to the bed.

“What are you doing?” My voice sounded weaker than I wanted it to.

“There’s been an attack at the gates. I’m getting you out of here,” he said as he scooped me into his arms and cradled me against his chest. “We need to get to the catacombs.”

He moved through the hallways effortlessly, but this walk seemed to take longer than I remembered from the last time we went to the crystal catacombs.

A secret passage opened when he pushed on a certain part of the wall, and we entered it fast as it closed lightly behind us.

We curved through this underground hall until the small shimmers began twinkling from the moonlit opening, cascading over an entirely different type of beauty with the crystal colors dancing from the moonlight rather than the sun’s rays.

He let me down, and I stood admiring the beauty of this place for a moment before I turned to him.

“How long are we going to stay down here?” I asked.

“Until it’s over,” he answered vaguely.

“You never told me how,” I said, looking over at him.

“How what?” he asked, his brow furrowing.

“How you spoke to me in the ring. Is that what you meant on the ship when you said I didn’t know your true power? Can you get into people’s minds?”

He chuckled lightly. “Kinda.” He looked over to me and a seriousness took over his features. He took a few steps closer to me and watched me intently, as if contemplating something.

I looked over his shoulder, noticing tendrils of darkness dancing behind his back, and a small smile curved on my lips. I didn’t have my irons on. Would Crow save me this time? His shadows appeared nowhere other than my room on most days.

But then as the shadows crept up and over Kade’s shoulder and he didn’t flinch from the sudden tendrils of shade flowing around him, my brow furrowed. Suddenly, darkness overtook him and the man standing in front of me was no longer Kade. It was Crow. They were the same.

“Mei wynsora,” Kade said, but the voice wasn’t his. It was the one I had grown to love as Crow. I pushed myself into the wall of crystals behind me as my mind did its best to process what had just happened.

Kade didn’t bombard me. He didn’t move, didn’t speak. The tense silence hung in the room like a wet cloth.

I drowned in his betrayal. Anger thrummed through me as I realized how many times he had left me alone when he could have gotten me out of this place.

“You left me. You left me here . . .” He cupped my face, now showing the mix of both sides of him. I could see Kade’s face shrouded in his tendrils of darkness as they swayed around him. He carried the wrath of the sun and the secrets of the shadows with ease. I didn’t know him at all.

“I never left you. I was always here, even in the moments when you thought I wasn’t. I was there in the shadows, or I was there as the prince you despised.

“I refused to let anything happen to you. I’ve been waiting for you for a century, Emelyn. I’ve known you were my mate since before this war ever started—”

“Mate . . .” My eyes widened at the use of the word. “Why should I believe any of this? You’ve lied to me. You’ve led me astray for months now.”

“Just let me explain.” I didn’t want to give him the time of day, but considering we were in the middle of the catacombs and I did not know how to get out of here other than climbing up to the small opening above, I waited for his words.

“Before the war, I found out about you from Willow. I knew she was a Soothsayer. And I knew once the war started, you’d never want to be with a man like me.

The prince of your enemy. The prince of the soldiers that took everything from you.

I did my best to drown out my feelings, but there was no escaping you.

Everything was drenched in you, my thoughts, my desires.

You were the center of my entire world and you didn’t even know who I was.

I tried countless times to push you out of my system, to accept that you’d never want me because of who I was.

But the bond clawed at my chest every moment of every day, desperate to find you, even with me glamouring it .

. . so I started following you. My shadows would always let me see you, and I’d keep tabs on where you were so I could keep Ember as far away from you as I could.

I wanted to keep you safe. I needed to because every beat of your heart has echoed in my mind from the moment I found out you were mine.

” His words washed over me like a wave, and as he released the glamour of our bond, it crashed into me.

I almost fell over at his emotions tearing through me.

His love, devotion, pain, heartache, everything slammed into me all at once.

It was all-consuming. My soul finally recognized him.

With every passing moment, the floodgates made the bond between us grow stronger, an unbreakable thread that bound our hearts and minds.

I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think as everything clicked into place.

Tears streamed down my face as his shoulders sagged in relief.

I couldn’t imagine holding this amount of chaos inside for over a century, let alone glamouring it.

I remained backed against the wall as he watched me, waiting .

. . From where he stood, he gazed into the depths of my soul with those honey eyes that were now lined with tears.

Longing and love swirled behind them as he watched me.

A single tear streaked his cheek, and then another, and I couldn’t stop my hand .

. . It lifted on its own. Cupping his face, I thumbed away the tears.

He stepped into my space slowly, resting his forehead against mine. I hesitated a moment. This was my Crow.

My friend.

My love.

My prince.

My enemy.

My breath shuddered as I leaned into him and gently grazed his lips with mine.

I kissed him slowly and passionately, letting every emotion roar down our bond.

Our lips swirled in a fiery collision, a touch that sent sparks flying through every fiber of my being.

The world faded into oblivion as the intensity of the moment consumed us.

He tangled his fingers in my hair, holding me close as if he couldn’t bear to let me go. I could feel the heat of his body against mine, the electricity of our connection coursing through our veins. It was as if our souls had finally found their home and refused to separate ever again.

Our tongues danced, exploring the depths of each other’s mouths with a fervor that left me breathless. The taste of him, the scent of his skin, it was all-encompassing, an intoxicating muddle of desire and need.

As he picked me up, my legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. He used the wall for support as he kissed me deeply.

He was touching me everywhere all at once, and when I finally opened my eyes, I saw his shadows, like ghost hands, touching me, wanting to run across my smooth skin.

I pulled back from him and gripped at his shirt as he kissed down my neck, across my collarbone.

I pulled his shirt off his shoulders and let it drop to the floor.

Running my hands over the marred skin of his chest, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him again.

He pulled back and leaned his forehead against mine, his words not falling from his lips but coming to my mind.

“Stop, Emelyn. Are you sure? I need you to be sure this is what you want . . . that I’m what you want.” They were like a caress, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than him. I could feel everything, his emotions and mine. It was all too much.

“All I feel is you—us. All I feel is the bond.” I breathed, and he nodded without a word.

“I know, it’s overwhelming. It will take time for you to adjust and decipher the difference between my emotions and yours. I’ll help you.” He reined in some of his emotions, and I was no longer drowning in our bond.

Suddenly, his shadows dissipated, scurrying into the darkness and away from him. Kade went eerily still. I didn’t understand what his shadows had seen or warned him about, but then I heard it.

Booted footsteps were echoing off the cave walls in the distance.