Page 120 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

“Feel what?”

“Just… feel. What do I make you feel, Natia?”

I take a deep breath and close my eyes. “Reckless. Like I’m driving a car at breakneck speed through the rain, and I turn but don’t slow down. The car tips and I’m two wheeling on a knife edge. My breath gets caught in my throat, adrenaline splashes through my veins, and the world freezes. Seconds later I’m falling.”

“Do I frighten you?”

I shake my head. “No, there is freedom in falling for you, and if we are heading for an explosion, I can’t bring myself to care.”

He strokes my hair back from my forehead. “It sounds like I’m testing your limits.”

“You are.”

“Limits are for normal people.”

I snort. “Limits are for sane people.”

“Limits are for those playing it safe. If you wanted to play safe, you should have never ensnared me.”

I blink like an idiot. “I didn’t ensnare you. You hunted me.”

He grins. “You make for interesting prey.”

“You mean I didn’t drop my panties and swing them in your face the first time we met?”

He chuckles. “No, that happened later.” My cheeks flame. “But I recall you singing about stripping yourself bare for me.”

“I did no such thing.”

He nods. “It’s true.” He sings Liam Payne in a baritone. A laugh bubbles up.

“In all fairness, I was singing to block you out, not invite you in.”

“Tomatoes, tomatoes,” he says and sighs.

“What?”

“Ty is planning something big and soon.” I swallow the lump. What he’s not saying is this could be the last time I see him before we face off against Ty. “You remember your promise?”

I nod. “Yes, but-”

He grips my chin, his stunning golden eyes holding me captive. “There is no one I want more, there is no one else I crave to cradle in my arms. I once told you I was no prince charming, but what I didn’t say is that because of you, I want to be the type of man worthy of what you offer,” he rests his forehead against mine, “I have a black heart, shrouded in the darkest of night. But your fire, your grace, and your light spins gold through the shadows. It makes me want something I never thought possible. Eternity is a long time to be alone, but with you I have found the reason to live, to fight. I will fight for you with my last breath, because whilst you have been promising with your eyes to go to war for me, I have been shifting the very fabric of eons of beliefs I held onto. But you are made for a race that will never understand the sacrifices made on their behalf, and I was made to bear the grief of tasting your light.”

His thumb skims my bottom lip. I grab his wrist, the power in my chest flaring as he promises both a future and snatches it away in the same breath. “You are stronger than any fate set out before us.” I say. “You need to tear down the belief that you aren’t worthy of saving.”

“Accept the possibility that this will not end in the fairytale you hold onto.”

A fissure tears the fabric of my heart. “You have to fight. If you don’t fight for yourself, for us, then my feelings far weigh yours.” I straddle his waist and he leans up, clutching my hips. “You light my soul on fire, and I would burn with you if that’s what it took to be together. I don’t settle for second best, and I know I will never feel anything as strong as I do when I’m with you. Does this frighten me? Fuck yes, it terrifies me. Do I cower behind destiny’s prophecies and other people’s whims because of it? Fuck, no.” I grab his hair and yank it back so he can’t look away. “You might have spent eons waiting for me, but I know in my heart, that I have done the same for you. I was so numb before I met you, I know the verse and the damn chorus of the song I needed to dance to in order to go through the motions of life. But I buried my passion under the wreckage of a broken heart. So don’t tell me that other people’s lives mean more than mine or yours. It’s a bullshit reason to not fight for what we could be.”

The molten gold flares in his eyes as he studies me, committing my face to memory. “I don’t know what I did to deserve a woman that would level the world to protect those she loves. But I am in awe of your faith, of your perseverance to fight for what you know is right, and it’s because of that I know there is a risk this won’t have a happy ending. I want you to know, I don’t blame you, you have to be strong, brave and don’t blink in the face of evil.”

He lands a brief kiss on my lips, then buries his hands in my hair. It turns savage and breaks me apart as it seems a lot like goodbye. I wrap my hands around his neck and hold him close. There is a small part of me that wants to hide in this little slice of paradise we are in and forget about the world’s problems.

He pulls back. “Goodbye, Natia.” His warmth disappears with him as he goes back to wherever Ty is hiding out. The fissure in my heart buries deep as tears threaten to fall. I glance around the cold room and fortify my heart. If he can’t see the possibility of what we could be, if he can’t accept that we are on the cards, that a future not coated in deceit, blood and threats was ours for the taking, what the hell am I fighting for?

Chapter Twenty-Six

Natia

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