Page 81 of Forgotten Queen

Sometimes, he thought he heard the barest whisper of her voice. A cruel trick of his mind, or some proof their connection could withstand the separation?

It hadn’t before.

In brief fits of sense that flashed through the growing madness, he dismissed it as a delusion brought on by raw desperation. After all, he had searched for his wife in a thousand unending nights and never glimpsed her own torture.

Maybe this was his punishment. For failing to protect her in her first life.

Better delusion than reality. He would never want her to see him like this.

He should hope she forgot him. Forget she ever met him, met him in two lives. Go on, find another love, a full life. But his selfish soul would not let him wish that kindness.

She was gentle-hearted. She was life itself.

She deserved to live.

And she didn’t deserve to see how he’d failed them. How he’d failed his kingdom. How he’d failed her. Again, and again, and again.

He had gone into the abyss knowing what he would find. And knowing it meant she would not go. But the rest was left to hope—a fleeting butterfly, a worse torment than any other. Hope that this meant she would be safe and escape the wrath of the bitch goddess.

If it was an eternity in Tartarus to guarantee her that life, so be it. He would choose to bear that abuse a thousand times over.

With her, there was never a choice.

And he had never wanted one.