Page 122 of The Ballad of a Bard

“See what?” West asked.

“I’m not a lesser Saint anymore.” She gestured up and down her body. “My father stole Muse’s heart before he was dragged to the dungeons and he gave it to me.” Her throat bobbed as she struggled to tell him what she’d done. “I ate it and gained the full immortality of a full Saint.”

West gaped at her. “What?”

“So if that’s your only reason for not admitting it, if that was the only thing holding you back, then kiss me already, you fool. Besides, refusing to say the words isn’t going to spare you from heartbreak, West. Not when your actions, your emotions already have shown me, and you, that love isn’t something that you can try to force away, ignore. So stop saying that you can’t love me, because…” She stroked his chest, bringing it up to his face and cupping his cheek. He went rigid as she lifted herself onto her toes. “You alreadyhave.”

Crimson didn’t let him try to argue again as she closed thedistance between them and kissed him. And this time he didn’t pull away.

Instead he lifted her up, huffing against her lips as he slammed his into hers, over and over again. She nearly wept at the moonlight and stardust taste of him, the scent that she sorely missed as he kissed her over and over again. His fingers firmed in her filthy shirt as his teeth scraped over hers.

“I love you.” He softly declared and then shewascrying. He was too. “I have never let anyone love me, nor have I loved anyone but Saints- I wanted to love you from the start.”

“I love you,” She tangled her fingers into his dark brown hair as he surged forward and kissed her again.

He growled softly into her mouth. “That night that you said you wanted me, at the ball, I wanted nothing more than to take you to bed.”

“I know,” Crimson admitted. “The evidence was easy to feel.”

West laughed against her mouth and the sound was everything she ever wanted to hear. It was stardust that made her skin buzz with a new kind of light. It was the pale moon that graced overhead in an elegant glow. It was the stunning darkness that covered them as he lowered her back to the ground.

“When you survive this, win against them all,” He began, stroking her face and tucking a strand of red behind her ear as his touch lingered on her cheek. “I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted.”

Her core ignited with his sensual promise.

Crimson bit her bottom lip and he tracked it.

“You’reeverything I’ve ever wanted.” She swore to him, pressed a kiss to his warm palm.

“Enough.” Altivar interrupted and Satori wedged herself between them, forcing them apart. West fell back, a new sort ofdetermination blazing like nebulas exploding in bleak shade in his night-cast gaze.

Utterly breathtaking.

“I’ll be here for you when you are victorious over them all, Heartstrings.” West declared to her and only her. “Show them what being a survivor means. Show those bastards who you really are. Not Red Lyric, not Heartstrings the Saint. But CrimsonfuckingBard. A girl from the Bronze Gate who rose up from nothing.”

“I will,” She promised and let Satori lead her to the cart, helping her step up into it and taking her wrists as she locked them in the manacles. The metal was cold and biting but she didn’t tear her gaze away from him. “Take care of my brother for me, please.”

“Always.” West gently tugged Cobalt over to him, placing a protective hand on his shoulder. “He’s part of my family too.”

With the satisfaction of telling him the truth that rattled her to her core, and the safety of her brother, Crimson allowed Satori to shut the door of the cart and the horses were urged into action. As Crimson never took her eyes off her soulsaint, being led to her spectacle of an execution.

Fifty Nine

She loved him. And suddenly the most terrifying thing became the most precious in the world to him. Goosebumps erupted all along his flesh, skin standing on end as West watched her through the bars of the slated cart. She didn’t stop looking at him and he wouldn’t stop looking at her. Altivar mounted a nearby horse held by a servant and clicked his tongue, trotting into action behind as a few guards followed. Satori shouted orders before swinging onto her own horse and following after them.

West took hold of Cobalt, tucking him into his height as he wrapped his arms around him. Everything inside of him was a living fire, ready to burn at any second. Even his skin glowed with a fervour that he hadn’t seen in ages. Starlight streamed in through his copper skin, a shiver running through him as he finally, fully accepted that he loved Crimson.

There was a slight tingle behind his eyes, a burn in his lashes and an itch to his scalp. His arm singed and heat poured into every inch of him as he stood there, watching until he couldn’t see a strand of scarlet anymore.

Cobalt stepped back, winced and looked up at him. West met his gaze as the boy’s mouth fell open.

“Iknewit!” He pointed. “Youarea Saint!”

West frowned, his eyebrows meeting in the middle of his forehead. He peered down at himself only to find that the once normal russet shade of his glamour had worn off, faded to a gold that could only belong to the stars themselves. Shock poured through him like a stream of cold water that froze him to the bone as he yanked up his right sleeve, gasping as the constellations formed, one by one.

They climbed up from his wrist to his bicep, curving around his shoulder as he tugged at the collar of his shirt to get a better survey.

As Dream’s glamour fell away entirely.

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