The tendrils of light evaporated, and both he and Cara were left panting as I put the dagger into the sheath at my side.
“Fuck, Rose. You’re getting good. How did you manage to make the stone cover my feet without touching the ground?”
“I turned the mist into stone. It wasn’t that complicated once I thought of it.”
“You… You can’t do that. It doesn’t work that way. The power of stone only manipulates what is already there.”
I grinned as he rubbed the healing burns. “The power of stone works that way, but the power of stone mixed with the power of mist doesn’t. It’s like how you replicate yourself.”
He blinked. “That’s genius. Why haven’t I ever thought to do that?”
“Because you’re male. Men are terrible at thinking.”
“Those light tendrils are interesting as well,” Cara noted. “I’ve never seen light manipulated that way.”
“That’s different. It’s a combination of the power of mist with the power of light. Just like that first time that I covered you in liquid shadows was a combination of mist and shadows. Shadows don’t have enough substance to do that, and neither does light.”
Sebastian rubbed his shoulder where his wound was still bleeding. “When we’re sparring, please leave the iron off the edge.”
Concern filled me as I realized that this wound wasn’t going to heal quickly like everything else. “I’m so sorry, Sebastian. I hadn’t meant to. It was just already in the sheath.”
“It’s okay, Rose. Not the first time that I’ve had a bit of iron in a cut. I’d just prefer it if you remember next time.”
He put his arm around me and pulled me to him. “I don’t think that I can teach you very much more. You need experience, but you’re finding connections that I’ve never even heard of.”
I looked up at him, distinctly aware of Cara’s eyes on us. She was afraid of me. Everyone was to some degree at this point just as they’d all been afraid of Sebastian.
“I’m proud of you, Rose. You’re not the scared girl that I dragged kicking and screaming into the Immortal Realm anymore. I think it’s time that we talked about what our plan is going forward.”
“What do you mean?” I pulled back. Was this the discussion I’d been dreading?
“Where do we go from here? Seraphina may not have found us by now, but Rose, we’re immortal. Eventually, she’ll hunt us down and kill us unless you decide to step up and become Queen. Or if we convince her that she doesn’t want us dead.”
I sighed. Cara sat down on a log to watch and listen. She would inform the rest of the villagers of what we were talking about. Even though Sebastian was the founder of the village, we were both still outsiders. Esteemed and loved guests, but still guests.
“Can’t we push this until later? Another month or two? I like it here. I’m happy.”
He ran his hand over his smooth cheek. “No. You’re ready. There’s no reason to continue putting the people in the village at risk like this.”
I turned around, looking out at the forest. Finally, I felt like I was home, and I was going to have to leave. I liked the people here. I cared about the people here, and they cared about me. Cara, Enivyn, Sinivyn, John, Kasia, her foals, the pups, Andryn, and everyone else.
This was everything I’d ever dreamed of. Sebastian thought that I needed to leave it all behind to take my seat on the Dark Throne. To go into another brand-new hostile world and have to prove myself all over again. To set myself in an opposing seat to the very woman who wanted me dead.
There would be no peace for me there. No happiness. At least not like this. I took another deep breath. He was right, though. We couldn’t just postpone things. That bitch Queen wasn’t going to stop looking for us.
“Why do you want me to take the Dark Throne, Sebastian?” I asked without looking at him.
“Because if you don’t, then there’s no one who will keep the Dark Court safe. If there was a Queen of the Dark Court, the Assassin’s Guild wouldn’t have been sent to kill you. No one would send me anywhere other than my Queen. The people will be safer if you’re there to be the wall between the Court of Light and the Dark Court.”
I snarled. “I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to spend my life ruling people and fighting. I want to play with wolf pups and ride centaurs and maybe find unicorns to chase me. I’ve spent my entire life being miserable. Do I really have to go in search of misery when I’ve found the perfect life?”
His presence hovered behind me, and I leaned back against his chest. “There’s no one else to do it, Rose. No one in thousands of years has had the power you have along with the correctly twisted bloodlines. You were created for the throne. A Dark Queen to hold back the light.”
I felt his hands on my waist, and I wanted to melt into him. I couldn’t, though. Not right then. I pulled away and turned to face him. “Sebastian, maybe one day I can be Queen, but not now. I’m not strong enough. I still don’t even understand the world. I’ve met a handful of people and barely understand them. I need more time. Much more time before I consign myself to that role.”
“I cannot force you to take the seat regardless of how much I want you to.” He set his jaw, frustration running through his face. I reached out and felt his emotions, using his powers to augment my own. It wasn’t anger like I’d thought it would be. Pure sadness. He was heartbroken that I wasn’t willing to take the throne.
“We’ll need to go to the Court of Light to see Seraphina, and I’ll have to do what she’s always wanted. I’ll give up
