Page 102 of Kingdom of Today
“No,” I repeated, shaking my head for emphasis. “I’m not interested in sharing my future with you.” Maybe I couldn’t grow flowers and berries with supernatural ability, but so what. “The emperor, Astan’s number one man, murdered a pregnant woman. I want nothing to do with any of you.”
“Your only other option is Soal, a horror you cannot yet fathom. Let me show you what life will be like, once he is defeated ...”
Images invaded my mind in tightly coiled spheres, wrenching a moan from me as they unraveled. One scene after another consumed my attention, each stripping away a layer of calm.
A throne room of glitz and glamour took shape, bright sunlight streaming through stained glass, causing colorful globes to dance within the crystal walls. Precious gemstones glittered in a floor as clear and blue as an ocean. Flowers bloomed from above, raining a petal here, a petal there. A chandelier of vines hung from the center, as big as a house and dripping with pritis stones. Knowing I was the one who’d created the beauty and splendor in this dream world left my heart fluttering.
A massive dragon-like creature perched at the edge of an inner balcony. Bala, more ferocious than even visions of her promised. She awaited my command, ready to do anything I desired.
Beyond the windows stretched a garden teeming with flowers, trees, fruits, and vegetables. Happy people tended the soil, conversing and laughing as they pulled weeds. Warmth spread through me. They appeared well fed thanks to my skills.
When I spotted Cyrus, my entire being lurched. Shaded by leaves and limbs, we worked alongside people who adored us, pulling bright-orange carrots from the dirt. A dream come true, exactly as Briar Rose had promised. Me, gardening and growing. Belonging. Loved. Helping others.
A gentle breeze lifted a lock of my hair, and Cyrus tenderly smoothed it from my cheek, leaving a small streak of dirt. He snickered and playfully kissed me, spurring laughter from me. We exuded utter joy.
This couldn’t be real. It was too perfect, too special. Too attuned to my deepest desires.
Cyrus was supposedly the host of Astan, yet in this vision he was nothing like the merciless brute who’d instructed an emperor to pit his grandsons against each other.
I closed my eyes, but the action only shifted the scene, unveiling a moonlit field of dewy flowers, where Cyrus and I danced, the rest of the world forgotten. We gazed at each other with intense longing but also an air of playfulness. I wore a loose, pale-pink gown encrusted with diamonds, the hem swaying over a lush plain of grass.
“You, sweetness, are my everything,” he rasped in my ear.
“Am I?” I replied, a husky tease. “Prove it.”
“You mean my adoring gaze, the two worlds I gifted you, and the things I did to your body this morning weren’t enough?” He tsk-tsked, six gold stars flashing in his irises, there and gone.
“Excellent. You understand,” I quipped, and he barked out a laugh.
“You are perfection itself. Never change.”
“Never,” I vowed with a smile.
He returned the smile. “You do recall those things I did to your body earlier, yes?”
“Mm-hmm.” My eyelids turned heavy, sinking low as I poured myself into him. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
“I’m about to do everything all over again.” He lowered his head, pressing his lips into mine.
The scene changed. No, only the woman in his arms altered. No longer was she me ... but Lolli.
Cyrus twirled her around the ballroom, gazing at her with the same adoration.
Real me bucked up, eyes open, ready to rumble.That isnothappening!
“It will,” Briar Rose said, pulling me from the vision, “if you refuse me.”
In an instant, the ballroom vanished, and the throne room reappeared, now devoid of gemstones and flowers. A cry of denial parted my lips as I took in the barren tundra beyond the window, the colorful garden gone.
A loud bang startled a gasp from me, and I craned my neck to see what had caused the noise.
Summit and Lolli stumbled into the temple, bloody and bruised, their clothing torn. My heart kicked into a wild sprint.
The door to the dome had been opened. Either Cyrus or Felix had died.
“Where is Cyrus?” I breathed out.
The royals didn’t hear me. Summit knelt at the statue next to the one Roman conversed with and ducked his head. Lolli came straight to Briar Rose, dropping to her knees at my side.
