Page 104 of Kingdom of Today
Chapter Twenty-Six
You will find me when you seek me.
—The Book of Soal1.24.29.13
“You host Astan,” I gasped out, shock waves crashing through me. Astan, creator of the Madness and leader of CURED, now abided in Cyrus, who had agreed to house him. They were together, two now made one.
A new swell of horror choked me, threatening to consume my entire being.
“Yes. And no.” He massaged his nape. “I agreed to do it, and I can sense him. I even know his thoughts, except they are my thoughts. That makes no sense, I know, but there’s no other way to explain it. I’m still me, just better.” His expression softened. “Accept Briar Rose, and I’ll give you the worlds, Arden. I swear it.” He cupped my cheeks as he’d done so many times before. “Be my wife. My everything. Help me destroy Soal, as we have dreamed for so long.”
The more he spoke, the more it felt as if someone had scooped out my insides and salted the wounds. “Do you even hear yourself?” Destroy Soalas we’d dreamed?
He pursed his lips. “I suggest you watch your tone with me, sweetness.”
Sweetness. Not Pink, or kitten, or even Bubble Gum, the very first nickname he’d bestowed upon me. But sweetness, the same endearmentAstan had used with Briar Rose. An endearment Cyrus had used with me before this, and in the passage of my book. More proof Astan was at the helm.
“Or what?” I snapped, uncaring about the consequences. This was my worst nightmare come to life. There was more of Astan influencing Cyrus than we’d realized. I loved this man, but he wasn’t my devoted, protective, tender fiancé anymore. This man killed without remorse.
“Or I’ll be displeased.” Before my eyes, he schooled his expression into adoration. He traced the pads of his thumbs over the rise of my cheeks, saying, “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you.”
A lie. The first he’d ever told me. “You did it for yourself. I begged you not to.”
He forged ahead, unaffected by my declaration. “You told me to survive, so I did. I love you, and I want a life with you. That hasn’t and won’t change. Don’t you want a life with me?”
“With you, yes.” Desperately. I clasped his wrists, clinging to him, hoping to make him understand. “But I don’t want a life with youandAstan. I told you that. Warned you. I meant it then, and I mean it now.”
“You don’t understand. Not yet.” Leaning down, unwaveringly confident, he pressed his lips into mine. A soft, gentle act of affection. “But I’m assured you will.”
A flash of those golden stars sent a chilling rush through me. “Are you even Soalian?” He couldn’t be, not with Soal’s enemy—our enemy—cohabiting in his body.
Another flare of irritation. “That doesn’t matter.” He tightened his grip. “You’ll host Briar Rose, and you’ll see. We were destined to rule together.”
More scooping, more salt, the burn in the center of my chest almost unbearable. Destined, he’d said. My path was altered the day I bonded with Domino. Was this to be the result: a life at war with Cyrus? The very result I’d feared.
The very result my book predicted.
“Why did you accept him?” I rasped. There was no reason good enough. “Why?”
“I saw my future with and without him.” He gave my cheekbones another caress, then hiked his shoulders. “I liked ‘with him’ better. It was the only way to keep you.”
I screamed internally. “He’s a liar, Cyrus. You know that. Youhatethat. Why would you believe him? I’d already agreed to marry you. I would have stayed with you forever.” Now ...
A muscle jumped beneath his eye. “His visions corroborate what I read in Soal’s books.”
“That’s because you’re missing a puzzle piece. But it’s not too late to undo this.”Please, don’t let it be too late.“Renounce Astan. Refuse to host him a minute more.” Could he? If all things were possible, then yes. “Please.”
“I have no desire to do so.” Cyrus released me and stepped back. His head tilted up, and his eyes closed, as if he were savoring something sweet. “The power bubbling inside me ... I’ve tasted only a fraction of what’s there. As soon as my body is used to it, I’ll have access to the full measure. The things I’ll be able to do ...”
My hope began to wither, but still I clung to what remained. If he’d tasted only a fraction of the god’s power, it absolutelywasn’ttoo late to free him. The problem was, he loved this. The power-hungry man before me would never willingly relinquish an ounce of the god’s ability.
Cyrus strode to a table in the back, lifted a tome, and read the spine before setting it aside. “Briar Rose requires an answer, sweetness. She’s eager to enjoy her freedom, and she won’t wait much longer.” As he stretched his arms high in the air, the hem of his shirt rose, revealing the patch of tattooed skin between the garment and his fatigues. A never-before-seen scar, thick and raised, extended from one hip to the other.
“What happened out there?” I asked, sick to my stomach. “With Felix, I mean.”
Voice harder than stone, he said, “It’s not worth discussing.”
As if only then noticing the blood on his hands, he frowned. With a wave at a far wall, he somehow transformed that portion of the room before my eyes. From wood panels to an open bathroom with a shelf of towels, a sink, a mirror framed in gold, and a matching shower stall, water already raining.
