Page 465 of Kingdoms of Night

And his dragon... They’d only just discovered how close their bond was. If he left with his sister, then Tanis would be doomed to be here for the rest of her life. Alone. She wouldn’t leave her eggs. And she wouldn’t leave the isle to be taken over by whatever vermin wanted it.

This was an impossible choice. An impossible ask for a man such as him who loved these two women in very different ways.

“You don’t have to make any decisions,” Aster said. She put her hand on his shoulder. “I want you to stay with her.”

“You don’t get to tell me what I’m going to do in this situation.” But some knot in his chest eased at her words.

Aster opened her mouth, eyeing him while the words stuck in her throat. Finally she said, “I’ve seen you with her, you know. I still lived here with you two, and I know the way you look at each other. A romance like that is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I would be a horrible sister if I took you away from that.”

“You’re more than a sister. You’re my twin.”

And therein laid the issue. He would miss her terribly for the rest of his life. Not only because she was a sibling, but because they shared some parts of their souls with each other. He didn’t know what he’d do without her, but he knew the pain of losing her.

He wasn’t sure he could do it again.

Tears gathered in Aster’s eyes. “I know how hard this is for you. And I know that I’m asking you to give me up after you’ve already suffered through this loss. But this time you know I’m alive, Rowan. You know I’m out there, fighting for everyone we hold dear.”

“Alone,” he whispered. “You’ll be alone, Aster.”

She smiled through the tears and shook her head. “All our people are still there. And they need someone to watch over them, Rowan. They need someone to show them what could happen if we don’t get involved with what the humans are doing. It’s not just the dragons. It’s everyone.”

He’d never been so proud of her and never been so afraid of what would happen next in her life. Not even when she’d been taken away by the dragons, because at least he had thought he knew what her future would be in that circumstance. Now? He had no idea where her path would lead her.

“The winding road continues on,” he said quietly. “I suppose this is your path, then. You will move forward and I will stay behind.”

“With the love of your life.” She smiled. “I don’t know if you’ve told her yet, but I think we all know.”

She saw right through him, and though that used to drive him crazy, now he was so happy he didn’t have to say it. Aster looked into his heart and knew exactly what to say to him.

“Come here,” he grumbled, yanking her into his arms for a tight hug. “How long are you staying?”

“I can stay for a couple of days.” Her words were mashed against his chest. “But you should go tell your dragon you aren’t going anywhere.”

“Think so?”

“She has probably already convinced herself to have the same conversation with you that I just did.” Aster pulled out of his arms and swiped a hand underneath her eye. With a laugh, she shoved him toward the door. “Go get her, Rowan. She’s waiting for you. I’ll be here for a few more days, yet.”

Grinning — because how could he not? — Rowan raced out of the room. He knew where she would go. Tanis might be a rather difficult woman to understand, but her habits were concrete and easy to remember.

She went to the cliff’s edge when she wanted to think. It would be a bit of a walk and a climb, but he knew that’s where she was.

He took his time following her, muttering the entire walk about what he would say. First, he intended to regale her with how beautiful she was. Women liked poetry, and he could compare the red locks of her hair to the deepest embers of a fire. Then, he told himself as he started up the cliff, he would let her know how much she had changed his life and how much she meant to him. After all, he’d been a nobody before he met her and suddenly, he was allowed the freedom to be curious about many things. She’d taught him how vast and great this world actually was.

Hauling himself up over the rocks, he saw the outline of her form surrounded by clouds and an endless sky. Those two topics should take a while, but by that time, he would be able to gather up his courage to tell her how he really felt.

Then she turned to look at him and stole the breath from his lungs. She was so beautiful, standing there like a goddess who had walked off a cloud. The wind tangled in her hair, and sorrow etched her features with deep furrows. He wished he didn’t know that expression so well. He wished he could take it all away from her and start over with a good life and happy memories.

His plan leaked out of his ears. Good intentions and all that.

When he opened his mouth to start his well practiced plan of telling her how lovely she was and how her eyes sparkled like diamonds, all that came out was, “I love you.”

Damn it, he was a dolt. There were so many more words he wanted to say to her. Words that would have been lovely and poetic and warmed her up to the thought rather than just shouting it at her like an idiot.

The wind blew her hair away from her face, and he saw that her eyes had widened in shock.

“You what?” she asked.

He could fix this. All he had to do was be a little more... well spoken. Rowan cleared his throat and tried again. “I spent the entire walk up here trying to decide what to say to you and how to make you believe me. But I guess I saw you and all those words disappeared because it all comes down to the same thing. I love you, Tanis. I love you more than the sky loves the sea. The thought of living without you feels as though someone is ripping out my heart. I suppose all this rambling is to tell you that I’m not leaving with Aster. I want to stay with you.”

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