Page 111 of A World of Ruins

‘Is this another way of you wanting to show off again?’

He laughs. ‘Not this time, Goldie. Is it a crime to want to marry you again?’ He lowers his head and a whisper of a kiss touches my neck. ‘And again.’ Another kiss, this time on my collarbone, enticing me all that much more. ‘And again.’ A final kiss on the lips. ‘And again.’

It is hard to decline the offer when he puts it that way. Though the truth is, I would marry him a million times if I could.

‘My brothers would love to see us get married,’ I admit, and a hum rumbles deep in his chest. ‘And I do enjoy hearing your wonderful vows.’

He grins.

‘I will be there.’ Tibith frowns from below. ‘Won’t I, Darry?’

Darius chuckles. ‘You’ll be front and centre.’

‘And after?’ I ask, raising my brows in amusement.

Darius’s gaze flickers over to me, arrogance sparkling in his eyes. ‘We will dance together.’ He grabs my waist, and I tip my head back with a laugh. ‘All night, if you are up to it.’

I nudge him playfully in the chest, shaking my head, but my attention quickly shifts as my eyes catch something in the distance. I pause, gazing towards the volcanoes. A wisp of smoke billows out of the top of one, and I swear I see a dragon silhouette disappear in the mist.

‘Have any of our dragons left the castle?’ I ask, my voice sounding detached for a moment.

‘Not that I know of,’ Darius says. ‘There are likely others out here that are separate from ours. Why?’

I furrow my brows, staring for a second longer at the volcano. I shake my head and look back at Darius when I don’t see anything. ‘Never mind. I just thought I might have seen . . .’ I let my words fade away, a soft smile gracing my lips instead. ‘It’s getting late; we should head back. Illias will panic if I’m not back for our nightly chats.’Orto complain about how Iker clearly cheated at Liars’ Dice, making no one a winner.

Darius watches me, his usually light eyes turning dark as if he senses something is amiss, but I have already changed the subject by the time he tries to ask.

CHAPTERFORTY-SEVEN

The days go by quickly. What is a week turns into two as everyone around me plans for a lush ceremonial wedding.

I pay many visits to Sarilyn during this time, much to her surprise. She expected me to let her rot all alone down there after Darius and I restored the Neoma tree, and perhaps another version of me would have. But after the day she mentioned how much she saw herself in me, I found myself compelled to talk to her again. To find outmore.

Some days, she was quiet, eating away at the food I brought her while everyone else assumed I was resting. Other times, she would tell me of her childhood, her life while training with a sorceress, and how her favourite pastime was to sing.

It seemed so mundane at the time, finding out these things when all I ever imagined was her plotting everyone else’s demise in her spare time.

‘Does the thief know you are down here?’ she asks me one day, then takes a bite out of her apple.

I twitch on the spot, casting a glance at the ground. ‘He’s no longer a thief.’

She chuckles. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’

I huff, forcing my gaze up at her. ‘No . . . he doesn’t know.’

A faint hint of a smile appears on her lips. She takes another bite from the apple, the crunch irritating my eardrums.

I find myself needing to defend my reasoning. ‘You did murder his entire family.’

‘And yet it shocks me he hasn’t already paraded my head around the shifters.’

‘I asked him not to.’

She cocks a brow.

‘And I don’t think he would have been as nice as to parade your severed head in front of the shifters.’ He would have wanted to make more of a statement. Something dramatic enough to make me roll my eyes.

Sarilyn hums pensively, turning her back to me. ‘What was it like?’

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