Page 58 of Cherished By the Gargoyle
“Thalric.” She presses a tender kiss to my lips. “I don’t care about the curse. I only want you.”
The words are a blade to my heart. I cup her cheek and stare deep into her honey-brown eyes. Every fiber of my being screams at me to hold her tighter, to never let her go.
But I know it cannot be.
“You are my savryl—my cherished one, Aurora.” My voice catches, choked by the weight of the truth. “But we cannot do this.”
My heart clenches as her eyes shimmer with tears.
“Auri,” I whisper brokenly, pressing my lips against her forehead. “I want so desperately to take you as my mate, but I cannot. I must protect you… even from myself.”
I force myself to pull away. “Forgive me,” I whisper, turning toward the balcony, my body shaking with the effort it takes to walk away from her.
I leave before she can speak, wings heavy with the ache of everything I cannot say.
The rain is cold against my skin as I step into the storm. As hard as it is to leave her, I know it would be harder still if I gave into my emotions and took her as my mate, only for her to succumb to the curse because of my selfish actions.
Clenching my jaw, I spread my wings wide and launch myself into the darkness.
Even if she cannot truly be mine, I am hers, completely and irrevocably. And nothing—not time, duty, nor fate itself—can ever alter that truth.
CHAPTER 37
AURORA
Thunder booms overhead and lightning fingers across the darkened sky as Thalric vanishes into the night. Sadness stabs through my chest like a sharp blade as I gaze at the balcony, my eyes straining as I search for any sign of him.
How could he leave me like this? How could he push me away again?
I sit on the edge of the bed, the silken sheets pooling around me like moonlight. Thalric’s scent—the smell of warm granite and rain—still clings faintly to my skin. My heart aches at the memory of his touch, and the way he held me as if I were something rare and precious.
Reaching up, I close my hand around the gemstone resting against my chest, warm from the heat of my skin. It’s the last gift he gave me before everything changed… a sign of his love and devotion.
Despair fills me as I acknowledge the truth. Even if fate binds me to another, even if curses and kingdoms and prophecies stand between us, my soul has already chosen.
And it will never let him go.
Curling my hands into fists, my nails bite into my palms as anger floods my veins. Not anger at Thalric, but at the cruel fate that would bind me to a prince I hardly know.
The storm continues to rage outside as heavy rain falls and the wind howls around the castle.
I’m so consumed by my frustration that I barely register the sudden chill in the room. Pulling a blanket around my shoulders, I notice a flicker of movement along the opposite wall.
Ice fills my veins as I turn toward it and see shadows shifting and writhing in the corner of the room. My breath hitches as they peel away from the walls, forming monstrous, hunched shapes with twisted limbs and hollow, glowing eyes.
A terrified scream rips from my throat as one lunges toward me, its shadowy claws swiping out at me.
I stumble back, nearly tripping over my own feet just as a bright flash of sapphire magic slices between us.
Ryllen rushes into the room, blue magic arcing across his fingers like small bits of lightning as he places himself between me and the shadows.
“Stay behind me!” he orders, sending a bolt of magic toward the creatures.
They recoil with shrill cries as it slams into them, their shadowy forms flickering briefly before surging forward again.
Ryllen’s movements are swift and yet somehow graceful, each spell thrown with lethal precision.
But fear tightens my chest as they circle closer, pressing in like a wall of living darkness.
