My chest ached.
“Please,” I said again, softer this time, my voice breaking on the plea. “Come back to me.”
Lightning split the sky, searing white across the blood-red moon. For one electrifying heartbeat, the forest lit up like day.
And I saw them.
His eyes.
They were black bottomless pools of darkness that swallowed the light whole.
My breath caught. My heart skipped.
He was looking at me. Really looking.
“You’re not a monster, Maximus,” I said, my voice barely a whisper over the thunder rolling above us. “You’re a king. The most powerful, most feared king this kingdom has ever known. And you—” my chest tightened, “—you’re wonderful just the way you are.”
The clouds above groaned as if the heavens themselves responded.
Then the first drop fell.
Cold and sharp, it kissed my che
