“My services?” I asked, still frowning down the hall and finding no one there.
“Yes. You do warm her cockles in a most pleasing way. Even if you are a bothersome beast, you clearly know your way around her lawn.”
“Err, thanks?” I glanced at Orion who seemed way too fucking amused by this whole thing and shot him a scowl.
“Please do not accost my ears with tales of your wally-whacker. I do not need the visual inspired by such recounts to press in on my mind, causing incestuous thoughts of your performance.”
“We aren’t actually related so they wouldn’t be inces-”
“Yonder. We must forget the possibility of a wandering Norman following us and keep on with our task.” Geraldine turned suddenly and shoved her way between me and Orion, shoulder checking both of us and knocking us aside as she stormed off in the opposite direction to the noise I’d been certain I’d heard.
“You heard the lady,” Lance said. “Yonder.”
I snorted and turned to follow her, my mind instantly falling on the thought of us taking Vard by surprise which was quickly followed by the desire to dismember him for the things he’d done to my girl.
“I brought my sun steel sword so you can cut him up good,” Lance said conversationally as we walked. “I figured it was the least he deserved for what he did to Tory.”
“Seriously?” I asked, feeling way too thrilled about the idea of being able to permanently scar that motherfucker than was probably healthy, but I wasn’t gonna psychoanalyse myself over the fact.
“Yeah. I know you have to be aching to finish him. Hell, I’d gut him myself if I could. But maybe Tory will be able to claim the honour when she returns.”
“Whenever the fuck that is,” I growled, my mood instantly souring as I thought of the month I’d already lost with her. “I missed her fucking birthday.”
“I know, brother, I missed Darcy’s too. But Gabriel is certain they have to do this. They need to learn everything The Palace of Flames has to offer if they’re going to be strong enough to take down Lionel and-”
“It’s not the same for you,” I snapped, realising I shouldn’t have said it as his gaze darkened and he bared his fangs at me, but he didn’t know the truth. I hadn’t just missed her fucking birthday, I’d missed the only birthday of hers that I would ever get a chance to celebrate with her properly. I’d lost my shit entirely that day, shifting and flying away from The Burrows, determined to find my father and destroy him so that she could return to me and I could make full use of the small amount of time I had left with her without the dark cloud of his presence still hanging over us.
But of course that hadn’t worked out. I’d flown halfway to The Palace of Souls before Gabriel had shown up like a bat out of fucking nowhere and told me that my future would end that night if I continued along the path I was on.
So I’d been forced to turn back, unable to bear the thought of never seeing her again even if I had been willing to take the chance with my own life to destroy the man who had dominated and destroyed so much of it. But I couldn’t bear losing her without a goodbye. Just like I couldn’t bear watching the weeks, days, hours and seconds tick by without her, knowing with such certainty that my time was running short.
I had just under five months left and it was never going to be enough, but now even the short amount of time I did have was being stolen from us, and Gabriel still had no answer as to how long I would have to wait for her to return. He’d even admitted that there was a chance it would be after Christmas which meant I may have already stolen my last kiss from her lips, her last smile, laugh, all of it over before it had even really begun and I was so furious at the stars, myself and everything in between that I couldn’t even keep this secret to myself properly anymore.
“How isn’t it the same?” Orion growled, grabbing my arm and wheeling me to face him while Geraldine headed on down a set of stairs as if she couldn’t even hear us. “You think because she was your Elysian Mate that makes your bond to her stronger than mine is to Darcy?”
I opened my mouth, half willing to agree to that just so that I could feel the force of his rage and let it distract me from this endless agony I was in over the time I was losing with the only woman I would ever love. But then I hesitated, almost spilling the truth before realising that that would be selfish too. I’d kept this secret for a good reason because we all needed to be focusing on the war, not wasting time trying to fight the stars on my fucking hopeless fate. I’d made my choice and I was going to have to own it.