Page 70 of Claimed By Stone
She turned, face flushed and streaked with tears, and pressed her palms to my cheeks. “I’m not leaving again,” she whispered. “I swear it, Thavros.”
My heart twisted. “And I swear,” I murmured, kissing the inside of her wrist, “I’ll find a way to haveyouand still protect our people. You are not our end, Seraphina. You’re our beginning.”
She folded into my chest, and I held her tightly, breathing her in, heart pounding with everything we almost lost.
I would fight fate itself if I had to.
Because this goddess wasmine.
Chapter 29
Seraphina
The cold of the hallway should’ve chilled me to my bones, but all I could feel was him—his warmth, his strength, the trembling fury in his breath. Thavros bent to pick up my cloak and my small travel bag, the one I’d packed in secret like a coward. Then he looked at me, not with anger, not even with disappointment. Just raw, aching relief.
Before I could speak, he lifted me into his arms as if I weighed nothing. “Next time you try to leave,” he whispered against my temple, voice low and rough, “take me with you.” It broke something open in me. A laugh that cracked into a sob. I clung to him and let him carry me back home.
He pushed open the heavy door to our rooms and stepped inside, the soft firelight flickering across stone and fur. He set my things down with a quiet reverence, like they were fragile offerings instead of a foolish escape plan.
"Here, I was bringing this to you after the feast. It will help you rest," he said, offering me a cup of tea.
Then, without a word, he began to unpack the bag. My brush, my scarf, the tiny bottle of lavender oil Callie had given me—all returned to their places like he was stitching something broken back together.
I sat on the bed, knees drawn up, hands curled around the tea he’d made me. It had gone tepid, but I held it like a lifeline. I watched him move, this giant orc, gentle and methodical. I didn’t know how to sayI’m sorryin a way that would touch the places I’d just torn open.
But maybe I didn’t have to say it. Perhaps he already knew.
I watched him move, and for a moment I could pretend everything was normal, that I hadn’t almost walked away from the only thing that’s ever felt real. But the weight of the visitor’s words pressed against my chest like stone, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Thavros,” I whispered, and he turned immediately, like he’d been waiting for my voice. "What do you know about the visitor we had today?"
"What visitor, little flame? There are many in the mountain today."
"The one who showed up after breakfast. Frema brought him to your war room."
"He is a visiting dignitary from the south," Thavros said.
"No. He's not."
Thavros stopped and looked at me. "Do you know him?"
"In a way... When I saw him, I was scared of him, but then I had a memory, a flashback of sorts, of him doing cruel things to me."
Thavros's head snapped to me. "From before?" he asked in a low, menacing voice as he crossed to the bed.
I nodded and swallowed back more tears. How I still had more tears, I hadn't a clue.
"Then after the feast tonight he found me and told me that... "
I broke off. Not quite brave enough to say what he said to me. What if speaking those words to Thavros would break whatever spell I had him under, and he would not be my mate anymore?
He cupped my face, gazing at me with concern, but there was more than concern in his gaze. There was love. I had to trust that what he had was as real as it felt.
"He said I was bound to the wrong brother, but it was too late. It was already in motion, and I had work to do."
He stood from the bed with a growl and paced. "And that is why you have been so upset today, not because planning the ceremony is taxing."
I nodded weakly.
