“Are you fucking kidding me, Eli?” The words come out between clenched teeth. I could fucking kill him all over again. “What the fuck is going on?”
His fingers hook into my belt buckle as he tugs me into him further. “We don’t have time. You need to listen. I shouldn’t even be here right now, and I don’t have any time to explain it all. There’s a reason why they chose Aspen for this trip. I’m technically not in the US right now, but Aspen is far enough away to not draw attention.”
My fingers flex around his cheeks. “We fucking mourned you. She barely fucking made it. I barely fucking made it!” Livid. Anger so hot burns like acid through my veins.
“I know. I’m sorry. It’s—” He turns over his shadow, his finger coming to his mouth to shut me up. My shoulders straighten and legs part as I follow his sight, ready to tear anyone apart that tries to take him away from me again. From us.
He comes back to me, his eyes searching mine. “I can’t explain that all right now, and she can’t know right now. When it’s time, I will let you know, okay? For now, take this—” He pulls out a white envelope with the words Luna-Nox Rebellis. “If you don’t see me during the family vacations every year, then I’m dead and they got me.” His words hit me all at once. He’s fucking leaving again.
My cheek stings when he slaps me. “Ky, I don’t have fucking time. This time next year, I’ll be here again. But for now—she cannot know that I’m alive. This—this is massive. Do you understand?”
I blink back the urge to strangle him. “Is this King shit or something else?”
Sighing, he covers his mouth with his hand. When his eyes collide with mine, everything else disappears. The house behind us, the snowy mountains in the distance, the falling snow that melts as soon as it hits my skin.
Closing the distance, he reaches for the back of my neck and pulls me into his lips. They graze mine tenderly, but like the greedy bastard I am, I pull him closer by the back of his neck and kiss him. His tongue slips into my mouth, licking all the wounds he inflicted when he left, but opening new ones because I know he’s about to leave again.
He backs up slightly, leaving us both breathless but resting his forehead against mine. “Would anything else ever be able to keep me away from you all?” I know the answer to that. Eli is a King first, even if he may not want it to be that way. He’ll always protect us at all costs, so whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it for us—or Luna, at least. The idea of Luna being in danger makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand, and that same anger that was running rampant inside of me since seeing Eli coming dangerously close to exploding.
“No,” I say, my shoulders relaxing.
“Next year.” Slowly, he pulls the bandana back over his mouth.
“Next year…” I whisper hoarsely, choking on the unspoken words of goodbye as he disappears back through the shadows. Whatever is happening, The Kings know about it. None of it makes sense, but if I’ve learned anything when it comes to EKC, it’s that they do things for a reason. They’re always three steps ahead, so whatever is happening, he’s doing it for Luna.
It has to be Luna. He knows I’d kill or be killed for him.
Turning back to face the stairs I just walked down, I make my way back through the front door, shaking the snow out of my hair.
As I round the corner into the sitting room, Lilith looks up at me from behind a smile, patting the spot beside her on the couch. “Come here. I just told everyone about Midnight Mayhem’s little game of Sixers.”
“Oh, you did?” I raise my brows, falling onto the sofa and draping my arm over her shoulder.
“Yes!” Tillie wriggles up further against Nate. “And we wanna play.”
Lilith places a deck of cards on my lap. The deck of cards.
“Let me guess… Cartier gave these to you…” I roll my eyes and start shuffling.
“She did.” Lilith nods, leaning forward to place her empty mug onto the coffee table. “So come on, then… let’s see if I’m your Ace.” The truth is, I never needed to play this stupid fucking game with either of them to know that they were my soul mates. Our love wasn’t the kind of love that was written in the cards…
It was the kind of love that burned them.