The pendant represented the love Evret had never had for her.
But the wedding band represented the love she had always had for him.
Love is a war.
Though she’d been expecting the muffled thumps from the corridor, she still startled when she heard them. Two royal guards, incapacitated. She wondered if he decided to kill them or merely knock them unconscious.
Evret stirred in his sleep. His arm tightened instinctively around her and Levana squeezed her eyes shut before she could cry.
From this day forward, you will be my sun at dawn and my stars at night.
The bedroom door burst open, crashing loud against the wall. Evret jolted upward, simultaneously pushing Levana aside.
A dark silhouette filled the door frame.
Later, when she had time to process it all, Levana would be amazed at how quickly Evret reacted. Even pulled from sleep, his instincts were immediate and alert. In one movement he shoved Levana off the bed so that she was protected behind the mattress and rolled himself off the other side. A gunshot flared through the room. The sound was deafening. It wouldn’t be long before more guards came running.
“Majesty, stay down!” Evret yelled. From somewhere, he had a knife. Of course he had a knife. He had probably slept with it under his pillow since their wedding night and Levana had never known.
She didn’t stay down. Instead, she gripped the tumbled blankets and watched as Evret flung himself toward the intruder, and she silently said her good-byes, even as tears trekked down her face.
The knife was only a hair from the intruder’s chest when it froze.
This was not a shell like the one that killed her parents. This was a much more skilled assassin. A much more dangerous one. As Levana’s vision adjusted to the light pouring in from the corridor, she watched Evret’s eyes widen in recognition.
Although Head Thaumaturge Haddon had retired some years before, he had never fully left the court. Or, as Levana had guessed, fully given up on his ambitions. He had reached the highest position in court that he could achieve without being royalty himself.
Levana had made him a very tempting promise. He hadn’t even hesitated when she told him her price.
The knife fell, landing anticlimactically on the bed.
A second gunshot. A third. A fourth. Blood splattered across the white linens. Down the hall, Levana heard Princess Winter screaming. She wondered whether the girl would come see what was happening or whether she would be smart enough to run for help.
Either way, it would be too late.
It was too late.
Joshua Haddon released Evret, who fell to his knees, blood covering his hands as he pressed them over his stomach. “Majesty—” he croaked. “Run.”
The thaumaturge turned toward Levana. He was smiling, proud and haughty. He had succeeded. He had done as she had asked. And now, without the burden of a husband, it would be time for Levana to fulfill the promise she had made. To marry Joshua and crown him as the king of Luna. When Levana asked him to do this, she was sure to tell him how she had admired him for so many years—that this is what she had longed for ever since she’d made the mistake of her youthful marriage. Arrogant as he was, Haddon took very little convincing.
Levana climbed onto her shaky legs.
Haddon lowered the gun. His eyes roved over her body—her glamour’s body—full of lust and anticipation.
Ignoring the tears now drying on her cheeks, Levana flung herself toward Haddon. He lifted his arms to accept the embrace.
Instead, he received a knife, handle deep, in his chest.
As horror and comprehension crashed into his expression, Levana shoved him away. He stumbled back, collapsing against the wall.
She fell to the floor beside Evret. Agony clawed up her throat and exploded in a shrill wail.
As soon as Levana was out of danger, his last reserves of energy left him and Evret slumped against the side of the bed.
“Evret!” she cried, surprised to find that her terror was real. Watching the spark dim behind his eyes, the way those gray and emerald specks seemed to fade in the darkness, was more painful than she’d imagined it would be.
I vow to love and cherish you for all our days.
“Evret,” she said again, whimpering now. Her hands joined his, trying to block the wounds. Down the hall there were new footsteps. It could not have been more than a minute since Haddon had entered the room, yet it felt like a lifetime had passed. Looking down, she saw blood splattered across her nightgown. Blood covering their hands. Blood on the two wedding bands he still wore, pressed up against each other.
Here is what I think of love.
She sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Oh, stars. Evret.”
“It’s all right,” he gasped, dragging his arms around her and pulling her against him. “It’s all right, sweetheart.”
She cried harder.
“Please. Please. Take care of Winter.”
She sobbed.