Page 8 of Immortal Burden

I smiled to myself. That little speech had been Ryker to a T, romantic yet possessing an irrevocable bluntness.

He tried so hard, so incredibly hard with us.

And it made everything so much worse given the circumstances, the guilt that much heavier and harder to bear.

He’d gone out of his way to mark this special occasion in the sweet and loving way he always demonstrated with me. And I hadn’t even remembered the significance of today at all. Well, I hadn’t allowed myself to.

It was because I’d already begun shutting down.

Until I found a way around what was coming, it was all I could do.

I couldn’t stomach him ending up caught up in it, his life being twisted and shattered to pieces all because of me.

And at the moment there was only one way to shield him from it.

But I’d been resisting going that route, procrastinating so much in some sort of misguided belief that I wouldn’t need to go through with it. That I’d find another way.

Another way that didn’t involve breaking his heart.

That didn’t involve breaking us.

“Ry, we need to—”

My words got lodged in my throat as I spun to see him down on one knee, a stunning diamond ring held out in a beautiful offering.

I choked.

Emotion threatened to strangle me.

And my heart broke.

It was what I’d wanted for us.

The solidification of our love, our bond.

To build a wonderful future together.

To live and breathe our happily ever after.

I’d thought I could keep us together, coasting along while I found a solution to this dangerous predicament, that things wouldn’t have to change, that he’d never have to know about any of it.

But with him doing this now, wanting to take things to another level, such a depth of irrevocable commitment, I couldn’t. I couldn’t go along with it knowing what I did, knowing it could seal his fate in the most awful way if he bound himself to me.

“Mia Snow, Guardian elite, Immortal Descendant and, most importantly, absolute love of my life… will you be my wife?”

He gazed up at me, so much hope, possibility and such love in his eyes.

It should’ve been the most amazing moment of my life.

But it was tainted now.

Because of who I was things could never be so easy, never simple.

With power came pain.

“I’m sorry, Ryker. I’m so sorry. No.”

I could barely look as my words hit home and I watched the instant they broke him.

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