Page 93 of Of Storm and Emerald
When the anger ebbed enough for her to still the air around her, she opened her eyes and locked her gaze onto his. A mixture of emotions roiled in those moss green eyes. Anger, sadness, confusion.
She took a deep, steadying breath. “Why–why couldn’t you just let what happened in Lyndaria stay in Lyndaria? Why did you have to fracture my heart?”
Daemon collapsed in one of the chairs that made up the small sitting area in her chambers. His elbows planted on his knees, as he ran his hands through his hair, leaving his head to rest in his palms.
After a few minutes, he looked up to meet her gaze. “Deciding to let you go was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, and I’ve regretted it every day since. As for why–” he sighed as a look of defeat marring his features. “Auraelia, can this even go anywhere? We can’t get married, and yes, I know that would be far off if it ever happened, but you know that we couldn’t. Not unless one of us abdicates the claim to our throne. And I know you wouldn’t–I wouldn’t evenaskyou to. And with my father ill, it wasn’t something that I wanted to bring up. I couldn’t do that to him. He’srelyingon me to take the crown. Mypeopleare relying on me to take the crown. We have always said that our kingdoms came first, and for the first time in my life I found myself putting them second, and that was unacceptable. But tell me, Auraelia. Can you say the same? Has the thought of leaving everything you know and love behind ever crossed your mind?”
Daemon gave his words time to sink in before he continued. “I didn’t invite you, didn’t feel as if I could, because I knew the moment that I saw you–that I held you in my arms again, I would throw it all away to keep you. I knew that the minute my mother and my sister met you that they would do whatever they could do to make sure that I could have you, if that was what you wanted, too. Yvaine would take the throne for me if it meant that I could be happy. But I couldn’t, in good conscience, do that to her.”
Auraelia looked to the ceiling, willing her tears to dissipate before she tried to respond.
“Wh–” she took a steadying breath before she continued and met his eyes. “What happened in the last few weeks that made the treaty such an ominous threat that you thought that I would be better off without you? Better off not knowing that was your decision?”
Daemon stood and took a few steps in her direction. And with every step he took toward her, she took one back until her back met a solid surface. He placed his hands on the wall next to her head, effectively caging her in.
With barely a breath of space between them, her heart quicked its pace. She couldn’t think straight with him this close. Even when she was this mad at him, her body reacted to his.
His words were barely more than a whisper. “Ithoughtthat you would be better off without me, because you deserve to be happy, Auraelia. Ithoughtthat if I left you alone, you would move on and forget about me. Hate me even. Though knowing that you hated me would have killed me, at least I would have given you the chance to live the life you deserved. But I thought wrong. I was so very wrong.”
He let out a breathy exhale that coasted across her cheek. “I was wrong to stop writing. I was wrong to think that I could live without you. Wrong to think that I could stand the idea of you with anyone else. And goddess knows I deserve all your ire, because you do not deserve any of the pain that I caused. And I will tell you that I’m sorry until my dying breath if that’s what it would take to lessen the hurt I see in your eyes. But I am, Auraelia. I am so sorry.”
She stared at the clasps on his vest, refusing to look into his eyes. “Those are just words, Daemon. How am I supposed to trust you? How am I supposed to believe anything that you say to me when everything has been a lie?” her voice cracked with the swell of emotions.
“I don’t know. But I want to fix this, Auraelia.Pleaselet me try.”
Her heart picked up pace at his words, and new tears rimmed her eyes. He was pleading with her now, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t let down her guard. The image of him laughing with another woman as she ran her fingers through his hair, played on a loop in her mind.
Auraelia took a breath to steal herself before she asked the question that burned on the end of her tongue. “What about the other woman?”
Daemon pushed away from the wall and ran both hands through his hair this time. “Auraelia, there is onlyyou.There has only been you since I saw you shining like a star across that stupid ballroom in Lyndaria. Will onlybeyou, until you cast me aside. And then probably for years afterward.”
“But–” she swallowed the sob that had worked its way up her throat. “But I saw you with another woman tonight. She was running her hands through your hair and seemed to know you on anintimatelevel.”
Daemon’s brow furrowed in confusion, then relaxed as realization dawned.
“Fiery red hair?”
Anger once again flared behind her eyes as she nodded.
“That was Sariah. She’s Yvaine’s ex-girlfriend, but we’re childhood friends. She’s like a sister to me. I swear it. Auraelia,please.”
No longer able to hold back her tears, she let them fall freely down her cheeks.
“What do youwant, Daemon? Because I can’t– Iwon’tdo thisagain.”
He cupped her face in his hands and tilted it up toward his. “You.I want you. You are the only woman for me, Auraelia. No one else.”
A sob racked her chest.
As she brought her hands up to cup his cheeks, he brought his lips down onto hers. It was soft and simple, but she felt it all the way to her toes all the same.
When he pulled back, he ran his thumbs under her eyes, surely smearing the streaks of makeup that trailed down with her tears.
“Goddess, I’m a mess,” she said as she tried to wipe away the tear stains on her face.
Daemon grabbed her hands and wrapped them around his waist before bringing his own back to her face. One gently wrapped around the nape of her neck, while the other cupped her cheek. She leaned into his touch and gazed up at him with misty eyes.
“No, my star. You are amasterpiece.”
