Page 121 of The Shadows Between Us
I can’t even hear the music anymore. All I hear is Kallias’s frantic heartbeats, his warm breath against my hair.
When I dare to look up into his eyes, I realize it’s the wrong thing to do.
I’m burning. My core goes up in flames. His gaze looks hungry, heated,desirous. The look of a man who hasn’t had human contact in a year.
Kallias said it himself. No man would give up the power of the shadows except for the deepest and most all-consuming of loves.
Not that Iwanthim to love me.
He met me two months ago.
And I used to want to kill him.
But now everything is different, and I want so much more. At the same time, I’m terrified of having more and so glad he cannot touch me, that he will never hurt me because we will never be allowed to get that close.
The music comes to an end, but Kallias keeps one of my hands in his. “Come with me,” he says.
He leads us up to the dais where the throne is.
No.
Now there are two thrones. When was the second brought in?
Oh gods. It’s happening now.
At some signal from Kallias, the beginnings of another song cut off. My guests go silent, and all eyes are on the king.
He seats me into the second throne, before dropping to his knees before me and brandishing a ring between two fingers.
It glistens in the light. I don’t take in any details, because my gaze is locked on Kallias’s. Little gasps and exclamations sound throughout the ballroom.
“Alessandra,” the king says in a voice only I can hear. “You’ve made me happy again. You’ve given me hope and become an invaluable confidante and the greatest of friends. A—a woman I could love.”
Love.
Couldlove. If he let himself. Which he won’t.
Then he raises his voice for the whole room to hear. “Lady Alessandra Stathos, will you be my queen? My equal in all things? A protector and ruler of Naxos and the conquered realms? Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
An ear-wrenching cheer goes up from the crowd, and I bask in it. In the attention. In the offer of marriage from the most powerful man in the world. In achieving my greatest goal.
He’s mine.
But then a stroke of fear rides in, as I remember someone wants to kill my king. And should we catchthisassassin, Kallias will still be a target his entire life. He could be taken from me at any moment.
Kallias is ignorant to my thoughts as he slides the ring onto my finger, a silver band bearing a black diamond cut into the shape of a rose.
“A toast!” Lord Vasco says from somewhere nearby. I hate that he has to be a part of this moment.
Glasses of wine are passed around to all the revelers in just a few short minutes. But those minutes seem to take forever, and dread sinks low in my chest. There are so many people in the room. An assassin could easily sneak in.
He’s safe, I remind myself. We banned weapons from entering the room. All the guests were thoroughly searched, much to their own irritation. No one can get past the guards surrounding the dais.
The council members stand below us. Serving maids spread throughout the room to fill glasses to the brim. Kallias thanks the woman who pours deep red liquid into his cup.
“To the king and future queen!” Lord Ikaros Vasco says, and the crowd repeats the words heartily.
