Page 131 of The Umbra King

The horror on his face matched her own, and she crumbled from the weight of it. “I love you more than anything, and I always will.”

“I will find my way back to you,” she vowed.

“We’ll always have the soulscape,” he whispered. “It will only be a dream to you, and you won’t remember me, even there, but I’ll be there waiting.”

She choked out another sob and reached for him, but her vision went black.

Caius staredat the spot where Rory once stood, grief destroying his insides. His only reprieve was their soulscape, and theAngels’promises to check in on her frequently.

“You should have married her first,” Sam thundered. His best friend was pissed, and rightfully so, but it had to be done.

“Had I married her, she would’ve been on Gedeon’s radar,” Caius yelled back. “I am no fool. Do not think I didn’t weigh every option. You didn’t see the guilt that weighed on her every day after hearing of her mother, but I did.” He lowered his voice. “She won’t know what I’ve done because she won’t remember me.”

The pieces of his heart were scattered on the floor next to the contract Rory destroyed.

“You said you would ask Adila to send her mother here,” Lauren said in a crisp voice. She was never one to yell, and when she stared at him with vast disappointment, he had to look away.

“She said no before I told her who the mystic was or why,” Caius replied. He had a phone in his quarters that connected to his siblings. Adila shut him down immediately, without question.

“We have an arrival scheduled in the morning,” Sam said. “I suggest you sleep,Your Grace.”

Caius pulled up to his full height and pinned the twoAngelswith a dangerous look. “Do not patronize me. It is done, and I will punish myself far worse than either of you can. If you want to do right by her, protect her.”

He’d known once their bond snapped in place, he would put her above all else, even his need for revenge, and if he could go back, he would choose to love her every time. Turning on his heel, he left them standing in his office. He was a king, and while his heart was in Erdikoa, his responsibilities were here.

The morning came early,and when he stepped through the back door of the dais, his heart ached at the familiar sight of staff gathered around the room, waiting for the newest arrival. Flashes of Rory trembling on the floor assaulted him, and he swallowed past the emotion in his throat.

Taking a seat on his throne, he waited, willing his sister to be swift. Either an inmate would show, along with an enforcer, or only the enforcer would appear with news of the condemned going to hell.

Minutes passed before an older woman stumbled to the floor at the end of the aisle, and an enforcer appeared along the side wall. Caius sighed, rose from his throne, and descended the stairs. He’d only taken a few steps when the woman scrambled to her feet, frantically looking around.

“Where is she?” She was yelling, and Caius walked faster. “Where is she?” the woman demanded again, speaking to no one and everyone at once.

The woman spotted him as he continued his path toward her, and her eyes widened. “You sent her already, didn’t you?” she asked, covering her mouth. Now her voice filled with pain, and she met him halfway, pounding her fists into his chest, much like Rory had done. “You gave her to him! You gave her to him!” She swung with impressive strength for a woman her age as she swore and screamed. “How could you?!”

The woman sobbed and slumped to the floor, and Caius looked at Sam and the accompanying enforcer with bewildered eyes. He motioned for the enforcer to bring the woman’s contract, never taking his eyes off her as she wept at his feet.

His eyes scanned the document, and his knees nearly buckled.

Lenora Raven.

Sibyl.

Sentenced to one year for attempted armed robbery of a bank.

The contract fluttered to the floor as he stumbled back a step. “You’re Rory’s mother.” His voice was barely a whisper as shock overtook him.

She looked up through her tears. “And you are afool. She was safe with you, and you sent her into his arms.”

His?

“Whose arms?” Caius demanded as his voice shook with emotion.

Lenora looked at him with such torment, he felt the weight of it like a tangible thing. “The Lux King.”

The air whooshed from Caius’ lungs. “He doesn’t know about her,” he said, trying to convince himself more than anyone.

Lenora released a humorless laugh. “I have seen it, just as I have seen you.”

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