Page 149 of Crowned By the Fae King

"It's alright, lioness," Cass said gently. "Come away."

Shaking, trembling, I reached out my hand and set it in his.

The universe moved with me. Our hearts beat in synchrony. His warm fingers closed around mine, and it felt like a memory I'd had since the dawn of time.

Moving with gentle care, Cass tugged me away from Talien. He picked me up in his arms and turned away from the frozen tableau. Come away, he said again, speaking the words into my soul. They fell like stones into a lake; leaving ripples across the surface, trailing bubbles as they fell into the deeps.

He crouched, holding me against his bare chest, and launched us into the sky.

I heard when he stopped holding the Court of Mercy at bay. A horde of beasts and monsters broke into cacophony, and, for one horrible moment, a man screamed.

Cass' wings swept against the sky in steady beats, taking us away from gods and monsters and fallen Kings. His arms held me and his heart beat with endless certainty. His heartbreak and worry curled through my veins, sorrow that made my eyes prickle with tears.

"Talk to me, sunlight," he said in a rough voice. "Please say something."

Those quiet words broke me. It all came flooding in, the ice of my rage shattering, leaving me with nothing but endless grief. "You were dead," I said, hands shaking. "You were… you were dead."

"I know," he said softly. "I know, love."

"You died." All my despair and agony came out in the words. My heart was a raw wound. Every beat ached, like my blood had turned to saltwater and was burning me from within. I couldn't stop the sob that tore at my ribs. "You— You—"

Cass cut me off with a kiss—you're safe, I love you, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here.

I started weeping in earnest, clinging to him. He was undeniably there, real and solid and so, so alive. Cass poured into me, holding nothing back, unfettered as the wind. His heart beat in my chest. His soul twined with mine. He was as much a part of me as my hands, my heart, the heat of my blood.

As long as you're alive, and as long as you have Mercy, I cannot die, he said, mind-to-mind and soul-to-soul. As long as I'm alive, and as long as I have Mercy, you cannot die. Cass kissed me again with slow care. Mercy is as much our body as the ones we wear. We're soulmated and land-tied. Your power binds and my power heals. You don't have to be afraid of losing me. "We're not quite deathless," he murmured aloud, nuzzling me as the broad sweep of his wings carried us home, "but it's pretty damn close."

Sobs tore at me, the tears blinding me. "Did you know?" I asked, the terror of it all lacerating my throat. "Did you— Did you—"

"No," he said, the word thick. Cass started breathing harder, his own fear and pain rising to the fore. "Gods. I didn't know. I just—" His words choked off. "You were there," he said. A tear tracked down his face, pushed by the wind of his flight. "I was dying, and I finally saw you, right there. I couldn't—gods, I couldn't bear wasting the last moments of my life refusing to give you what you've always wanted from me. Even if it was only for a second… only one heartbeat… You deserved so much more. But at least I could give you that." Another tear tracked down his face. Cass couldn't even look at me, sorrow clawing at his expression.

I put my hand on his cheek. His eyes snapped to my face, desperate hope wrought in gold.

I brushed my thumb across the wet track on his face. He was like the sun in my sky. I stood on the fulcrum of the universe because Cass was my center of balance, and with him in my heart, I would always be able to step across the world and know exactly where I stood. I could feel it. All I had to do was think of him, and that bond between us came into perfect view, our souls so deeply entwined that we both had to fall for either of us to fall.

He hadn't ever truly fallen. Cass had been there the whole time, lost in the Court, the anchor of his body gone but the anchor of my soul one he could never escape. No matter how far he went or how lost he got, he was mine, and I could drag him back. As I'd dragged him back, demanding Mercy come with me to face Talien, refusing to let the man I loved fall into oblivion. My healer had answered me, and just as his body had fallen into dust, so from dust he had arisen. Cass was the Court, and Cass was mine.

A sentry and a mastiff. The storm and the sunlight. A Queen and a King—a conqueror and her Court. Two bodies with one soul.

"You gave me a lot more than a second," I whispered. The wind stole my words, but he didn't need to hear me with his ears to know the words of my heart.

The softest start of a smile warmed his face, more of a dawn for me than the rising sun. "Lucky me," he murmured back, the words as much in my soul as in his voice.

I turned my face and buried my nose against his throat. He still smelled like Cass, the warmth of that scent a sharp contrast to the icy wind sweeping across our skin.

He's naked, I recalled suddenly, my cheeks heating.

So I am, he said through our bond, sounding amused. You turned all my clothes to dust, along with the rest of me, and apparently I don't regenerate clothing. Cass paused, then added, Also, I seem to be overhearing your thoughts now. I hope that's alright.

I blushed harder. I, um. Did some time fuckery. And a rampage. It was a whole thing.

Cass rubbed his cheek against my hair. You must like me, he replied, with a shy nervousness that made me smile.

"I love you, even," I said out loud, my mouth touching his skin as I spoke. The heat of my breath against his throat warmed us both. I brushed my nose against his pulse, then looked up at him hopefully. "Take me home?"

He smiled down at me, eyes warm. "Gladly."

Together

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