Page 136 of Courting Death & Desire
He sighed, leaning perhaps a littletooclose to be considered appropriate by passersby.
But they did not understand the strange alchemy between them. Thethingthat would always live in the caverns between their Souls, lurking in their Shadows.
The moments they shared together and with her king.
Arcas’s fingertips flared between them, catching her hand for a breath.
“You wear his for all to see, but you keep mine buried in the dark.”
Lunelle turned her head, amused at the way he jumped back from her.
“I keep you where you belong, Prince.”
“It’s Lieutenant now,” he said softly, a lightness to his tone that had not been there months ago.
Lunelle pursed her lips—he could not help himself. He closed the distance between them and brushed his lips over hers so quickly she might have questioned if it happened if it weren’t for the spiral in her stomach, swirling in anticipation.
“You’re late, Lieutenant.”
“Yes. And your husbandhateswhen I keep him waiting,” Arcas murmured, dropping her hand. “Will he be joining us this evening?”
She nodded, a rush of heat washing over her.
“I look forward to worshiping at the altar of you,” he whispered before strolling from the room, his sister bustling through the door before Lunelle could draw a breath.
“I’m so sorry!” Yallara said, taking up the space in the room her brother left. “I thought we were meeting in the garden!”
“We can, if you’d like?”
“No, no, sit! I need to heareverythingabout the Nova Court.”
Lunelle giggled, leaning back into the sofa, tucking her feet beneath her, listening to the fade of Arcas’s boots and tamping down the blush that climbed her neck as Yallara listed off all the changes they were making in preparation to declare the Plutonian Court for the rebellion—a list that Mirquios and she had been tackling in their own court over the last few months.
Her eyes fell on the bay window, the glass cracked as the silver pools below trickled toward the city, and a smile spread across her lips.
Her footsteps echoedthrough the catacombs.
Plutonians milled about at the midday hour, running their blue fingertips over the stibnite clusters along the walls. She lowered her hood as she wove between them, the ring around her neck sizzling to life in the underground grave.
She touched it reflexively, a whisper kissing her ear as she did, though it felt too far away to understand it. She quickened her pace, eager to get back above ground.
He was waiting for her at the steps, arms tucked behind his back, jade gaze lighting up as she came into view. Lunelle skipped forward, launching herself into his grasp.
“There she is, the Goddess of Death herself.”
“I believe there’s a line for that title,” Lunelle laughed, peppering his jaw with kisses as he dragged her up the stairs, their boots crunching in the sand. Lunelle pulled him toward the edge of the cliffs, the Sun bouncing off the dark sea below.
It did not look so steep a fall as it once did.
“And you’repositivewe have to do this?” Mirquios clenched his jaw as he peered over the edge.
“It can’t be any more frightening than hunting your own Shadow in the Court Below.”
Mirquios shuddered. “I’d take dunes to cliffs any day.”
“I’ll count to three,” she said.
“No, not necessary, just… give me a moment,” he mumbled, stretching his neck.
Lunelle reached for his hand, pressing his knuckles to her lips. She rubbed her thumb over the band on his left hand, the one she knew had her name engraved on the inside.
“Take as many moments as you need, my love.”
Mirquios took a deep breath and then nodded, letting her lead as she hurled them over the cliff’s edge. If that was what Descent felt like, slipping through space with the love of her life’s hand around hers, she did not think it all that terrible of a Fate at all.
And when she broke through the surface of the water, frigid but not unwelcoming, she was certain she heard Pluto’s amused chuckle, folding into foamy crests and pushing her back to the surface where the gentle Sun kissed her silver-freckled face.
