Page 129 of The Umbra King

Early the next morning,soft cries pulled Caius from sleep, and he sat up, looking around. Rory was nowhere to be found, and a soft light shone from under the bathroom door. As he walked closer, he realized they were coming from inside, and he quietly turned the doorknob, only to find it locked.

He knocked softly and called through the wood, “Rory, baby, are you okay?”

He heard sniffles before she croaked, “I’m fine. Go back tosleep.”

Worry seeped into his bones, and he tried the door again. “Let me in, Rory.”

“I said go back to sleep.”

He stepped back and kicked the door in, and the sight before him made him falter. She was curled into a ball on the floor, and when she saw him, she cried harder. Rushing to her side, he scooped her into his arms, sat down, and rocked her slowly.

They sat like that for what felt like hours until her cries died down. “I’m a murderer. How is it fair that I am happy when my mother is suffering because of me?” Her red, puffy face turned to his. “The guilt will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Caius swallowed hard as his heart broke for the woman he loved. There was nothing he could do to console her, and he knew that, but damn it if he hated that she didn’t trust him with her tears.

He said the only thing that came to mind, “Never lock me out again. I will always make your tears my own. We’re in this together.”

He might not have the right words, but a plan formed in his mind. Placing a kiss on her head, he picked her up and carried her back to bed.

Rory sataround a table at the bar with Kit, Bellina, and Cat. The air was somber, the hurt of Tallent’s betrayal and death hanging over them.

“I’m sorry,” Rory said for the hundredth time. “He was trying to kill me, and after what he did to Bellina, I couldn’t let him hurt anyone else.”

Even though he betrayed them in the worst way, they mourned the friend they thought he was.

“Don’t be sorry,” Cat said, reaching across the table to grab her hand. “Any of us would have done the same.”

“I only wish you could’ve hung him from a hook, the double-crossing bastard,” Kit said, throwing back another shot. The woman could drink like a fish. “He deserved that and more.”

Bellina’s eyes watered. She’d been quiet, and Rory knew she needed time to heal. “I wouldn’t feel safe if he was still here. You did for me what I did for my wife, and I don’t regret my actions. You shouldn’t regret yours.

“And fuck Nina, too,” Cat added. “That bitch had it coming, and if Tallent was weak enough to fall for her tricks, he had it coming, too.”

“Cheers to The Butcher,” Bellina said, holding her glass high. “For doing what she does best and ridding the realms of evil. May they rest unpeacefully in hell.”

41

Rory crawled into bed,exhausted from the day. To celebrate Caius’ last day of incarceration, they stayed together, doing whatever he wanted. He’d wanted to play arrowball and eat at their favorite spots in town, mostly. He even asked to meet her friends for a few drinks.

He crawled in beside her, quieter than usual, and she assumed he was nervous and excited for the next day, which was understandable.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

He reached out and caressed her cheek. “You. How perfect you are, and how much being apart from you will hurt more than anything in the realms.”

Tension seeped into her shoulders. “You said you wouldn’t go after Gedeon until we could do it together.”

His eyes moved over her face until they met hers. “I’m not going after Gedeon.”

She felt the truth in his words and relaxed. He must have meant when he would visit Erdikoa because their souls needed to be together. Wasn’t that what he’d told her?

“We’ll meet in the soulscape until you come back,” she reminded him.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “We’ll always have the soulscape.”

Rory woke with a start,and when she felt the bed beside her, all she found was air. The clock read a little past eleven-thirty at night. She fell asleep on Caius’ chest, and now he was gone. Where was he?

Her body craved him beside her, especially after they’d made love earlier in the night.The phrase ‘made love’ always made her cringe, but now she understood. She knew in her heart that’s what they did.

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