A Thief of Nightshade(85)
“I suppose I shouldn’t apologize for being emotional, then.” She closed her eyes and bit back a wave of grief as she recalled the conversation she’d had with Jullian in her car so long ago.
Leaning in so close Aubrey could feel the kiss of his breath on her hair, he whispered, “You aren’t the emotional type, Mrs. Sellars.”
She opened her eyes as she turned around.
“You thought I was Aislinn, didn’t you? I have to admit, this isn’t the only time we’ve taken advantage of the fact that we sound a lot alike.” Jullian closed the distance between them and took her face lovingly in his hands.
He smiled. “I will never deserve you; not the sweet glances you send my way when you think I’m not looking, the kisses you plant on my cheek when you think I’m asleep, or the way...” he choked on his words, the feelings he’d been holding at bay since he’d walked into the room suddenly overwhelming him, “or the way you turn into my touch. But, Aubrielle Sellars, I am hopelessly yours.”
He kissed her then; sweetly at first, savoring the gift that he’d been so certain that he’d lost forever, but the delicate brush of his lips against hers grew strong and fervent as he felt her sob against him.
There had been so many times that he’d wished she would let her guard down, let him in, but he couldn’t have imagined what the sound of her sorrow would do to him. He’d never been so honored, yet so heartbroken.
Jullian picked her up and sat on the window seat, his back against the wall, Aubrey held tightly to him. And they remained there, in tender silence, for a long time.
“We’ve got a lot of decisions to make,” Jullian said.
Aubrey shifted to look up at him. He was unsettled by the weight still evident in her expression and the fact that she didn’t reply.
“I wouldn’t obligate you to anything you wouldn’t want, so I waited to accept anything, but how do you feel about the
title of Queen?” He smiled, wondering what she’d say to this, but instead of answering him, Aubrey looked away.
He cupped her chin and turned her face. “Love, as long as you’re beside me, nothing else matters. Whatever decision you make ... really, I’m fine with. I can step down and hand the crown over to Aislinn. First he’ll have t—”
She wondered why Aislinn and the others hadn’t already told him. “It’s not that,” she said. “I was poisoned...”
The concern in Jullian’s eyes faded.
“The Time Wraith. I’m sorry. I should have told you first thing.” He laced her fingers through his and kissed her hand.
“Tabor ... gave up his immortality. It was the only way. But, by doing so, you’re now tied to Avalar as one of her own.” He let go of her hand and placed his own over her heart. “Unlike me, the Lyr now means life to you, as it does all magical creatures here. I don’t know how to tell you this, sweetheart, but this means we can’t go back home. Not permanently.”
“Why would Tabor...?” The very idea, already more than she could fathom, and the joy she felt at knowing she would live, got all tangled up with the guilt and the sorrow of never seeing her family again.
Jullian sat up and hugged her, smoothing her hair with his free hand.
“Sssh, sssh, honey.”
That’s when she realized she was crying again. She’d once feared that she would never cry again and now she feared she’d never stop.
“Sweetheart. Tabor said no greater honor could exist than to grant life back to the one who’d freely sacrificed everything of herself to save Avalar—a world that had nothing to offer in return.” He paused, likely to give her time to say something in response, but she still couldn’t find the words. “I have so much to ask forgiveness for. I was too afraid to tell you the truth, afraid that you wouldn’t believe me and that if you didn’t—”
“I don’t know what I would have said had you told me before. They declared you dead, Jullian, held a funeral.
I didn’t know what to think. I left after the graveside service and went to the cabin, alone. I sat on the dock and somewhere beneath the pain, something in me believed in a world that I had no proof of.
If that isn’t real, utter faith, I don’t know what is.”
Jullian considered this. “There are so many things I want to show you, places here that I would never had imagined I’d be able to tell you about, let alone show you. We still have so much rebuilding to do and some of the lords have started to fight over deeds settled by the Fae ages ago.”
“Avalar will heal. Give it time.
There are a few places, while we’re working all of this out, that I would very much like to avoid.”
“Oh?” Jullian asked smugly.
“I think your first act as king should be the abolition of one Crimson Stair.”
The look on Jullian’s face was priceless. He cleared his throat before responding. “Aislinn failed to mention that part of your journey. Is that where he ran into Rustin?”
“Yes. He said that Rustin ... did you consider him a friend?”
“Classmates, yes, and companions, perhaps, in childhood. Ash always had a higher opinion of him than I did. You know how it is; Rustin was big brother’s friend. That garnered him cool points that he wouldn’t have had otherwise.”