Page 51 of The Fifth Soul

I turn to face him, and our eyes lock. We stay like that for a minute. I can almost see the storm brewing in his eyes.

“You okay?” I ask gently.

“You know what I said about not fearing you the first day I met you?”

I recall the moment in detail.

“You take it back?” My smile is unstoppable.

My side of the bed is feeling more comfortable by the second. His nod is slow. Nothing or no one could erase the beaming grin on my face. The future king of the magic realm fears a thief.

His hand reaches over and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “Someone has to warn the masses. Their future king has met his match.”

The honesty in his words takes me off guard. My smile falls, and a feeling of loss comes over me. I recall our last conversation about his gift. The way his eyes see something in me, something I’m not sure is there. I know what fabric makes me. I would love to believe we’re the same, but I know in my bones that it is impossible.

“I will never be your match.”

To think otherwise is delusional. The world would never see me the same way they see Brandon. I’ve lived in the shadows for so long that I learned to blend into the darkness too easily. My gift seems more of a premonition.

Brandon’s eyes take me in like they can’t comprehend my train of thought. I don’t blame him. He has always had a place in this world. He looks so at home everywhere he goes. To walk in his shoes and belong to that world is a thought I can’t allow to bloom.

“What sets us apart, other than my title?” I furrow my brows as his words break the silence. “Something I did not even earn.” He doesn’t wait for me to respond. “You’re the picture your choices paint. The artist is you.”

The longer we look at each other, the colder I feel. I wrap the covers tighter around me. His eyes pour into mine, pleading with me to say something. But I don’t know what I could say.

He lets out a sigh of defeat. “My mother would tell Roman and Jesse that just because they weren’t chosen to do something specific, it didn’t mean they couldn’t do it. It just meant they had choices.”

I try to picture Brandon’s mother advising her two sons’ words of wisdom to make up for the fact they weren’t the chosen ones to lead.

“Roman is the first Oscuro to lead the Royal Force. He started from the bottom. His position is earned, not given.”

I think back to the Black Castle. How the soldiers looked at Roman with so much respect. The way people got out of his way like his purpose was much more important. I attribute respect to his name and title. It never crossed my mind what he had to do to get there.

“You have choices.”

I try to read between the lines. What little I have is mine because I chose it. I get to decide, just like Roman and Jesse did.

“Would you have chosen the life path you got?” I ask.

He thinks about it for a second. His eyes look so deep in this mellow light I get sucked in by them, like beacons that call for me. They want me to know so much that cannot be said out loud. “I don’t know,” he says finally. “But I do know that I wouldn’t wish for a second of my life to be different.”

His hand trails down my cheek and I lean further into it, chasing the warmth it provides my skin.

“If the world learns my name…” I trail off. I want the words to come out right. “I wouldn’t want fear being the first thing they feel when they hear it.” Following back to his previous comment.

He shrugs. “Then, they won’t.”

His words are so final. Written in stone. There’s something incredibly solid and strong behind everything Brandon says. Like nothing could hurt me if he says so. A blanket of comfort I’ve never known. A foreign feeling too sweet to think it’s not fleeting.

I move closer to his side, and his arms open without hesitation. I lay my head on his chest and breathe in deeply. This is a completely new feeling for me. Fighting the heaviness behind my eyes so I can stay here a bit longer becomes harder. I don’t want this moment to end, not yet. The world feels untouchable from here—or, at least, I do.

CHAPTER 18

BIANCA

“You bothered informing me about the water imps but not the Orc?” I ask.

“Joe is harmless to us,” Brandon says. “I didn't need your gift to hide us from him.”

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