The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series)

by Rachel Higginson

  My grandfather taught me how to use a sword the minute I turned seven years old. We were in Dubai. The air was dry and dusty, the sun deathly hot. Amory had taken me up to the rooftop of an apartment building, given me a sword and shown me how to kill an Immortal.

  Just in case.

  I was seven at the time.

  I was twenty-two years old now.

  And as I passed by the unconscious Titan I swooped down, picked up the sword, lunged three more feet and stabbed the first henchman I could reach.

  His grip lightened on Amelia and as his sickly green colored magic poured from the flesh wound of the sword he slowly let go of her completely while his partner fumbled for his gun.

  I ripped the sword from the first man’s chest and plunged it into the thigh of the second man. He had started to move away from me while he loaded bullets back into his gun but I didn’t have the time to play that game.

  Where the sword sunk into the man’s fleshy thigh, his identically acid green magic also flowed out from his body into the crushing space around us. He dropped Amelia’s arm and pressed his hand down tightly around where the sword was sticking up from his thigh. The pressure of his hands did nothing to slow down the outflow of magic. Seven more seconds passed before he sank down to his good knee and then eventually fell over face first onto the ground dead.

  These bastards turned out easy to kill if you got around their bullets.

  I looked up from the dead man and into the eyes of my future bride. Relief swam in her deep golden brown pools and something so much better than relief, something like real, authentic, life-changing love.

  I pulled her to me immediately and wrapped her in my arms. Our magics crashed into each other with silencing resolve. I shook against her, still so terrified of losing her. She clung to me, trembling in my arms, vibrating my heart with her petrified movements and there, in the middle of crushing bodies and frenzied violence we held onto each other as if these were our last breaths to be breathed.

  Avalon, a bomb! Eden screamed in my head, leaving me with point eight seconds to react.

  I threw my body over Amelia’s and we hit the ground hard. My magic left my body of its own accord and met Eden’s in the air only half a second before the bomb went off and everything slowed down to a crawl.

  And then nothing but the whitest, most blinding light I had ever seen.

  ----

  Ringing.

  Loud and high pitched in my ear.

  Slowly the fog cleared. Slowly. Painfully slowly.

  The piercing tone in my ear drums lessened and the darkness lifted off of me like the heaviest blanket being pulled by the weakest limbs.

  Unconsciousness is confusing and bleak, frustrating and muffled. The room came first. I was on the floor, over Amelia, debris and bodies were everywhere.

  Memories came second. Amelia being taken by Terletov’s men. The sword. The battle. The bomb.

  Realization came last. I sprung to my feet and lifted Amelia into my arms. She was breathing and seemed to be relatively unharmed, but she moaned against me so I held her tight.

  I was the only one standing in what was left of the club.

  Bodies lay askew at my feet. The high beams of the ceiling were broken and splintered throughout the room. A large gaping hole had taken out a third of the ceiling and part of the wall that backed up to an alley. Wind whipped through the hole scattering loose napkins and strands of torn clothing. Dust and ash covered everything, every surface and person.

  I breathed in through the choking, toxic air and forced myself to focus on the magical pulse of the room. Amelia’s came first and most natural and then those that were stronger, Eden, Kiran…. Gabriel.

  My eyes flew open and this time bodies were stirring. Most of the Immortals were simply unconscious from the close range of the blast and would come around soon. Eden and Kiran had sat up and Eden’s blue smoke was already at work around the room. She sat huddled next to Kiran with her knees tucked to her chest. The amount of healing this room needed would take it out of her and I worried about the baby.

  Don’t. She whispered in our heads. Avalon, let me do this. I know what I can handle. I know what’s good for the baby.

  I nodded my acknowledgement. What could I have said to her? I wouldn’t deny her this. I wouldn’t stop her from helping what she could.

  I searched for Gabriel knowing he was next to Syl. As if he knew I was searching for him, he stood up from behind the bar and brushed off the dirt and debris from his black priest’s outfit. I locked eyes with him from across the room and he tipped his head in a positive way. I watched as he scooped up Sylvia into his arms and gave me a thumbs up from the hand that supported her back. There was a pulse. She was knocked out from the blast, but alive.

  Amelia’s parents moved in the back of the room, both alive. Titus, Xander and Xavier were on their feet helping others and checking the vitals of those still down. Sebastian was moving across the room to check on his sister who I had pressed as tightly to my chest as I could. Seraphina bent over Talbott as Eden’s magic worked to remove the bullet that knocked him out.

  They were alive.

  I breathed.

  Deeply.

  And said a prayer of thanks.

  Amelia’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up at me grief stricken. Her sense had apparently come back quicker than mine. She pushed against me and I let her stand, but I held her close. I held her as close as I could and I had no intention of letting her go.

  The bomb was enough to put us all on the ground and give Terletov time to escape, but it didn’t seem capable of actually killing Immortals. In fact, the only two Immortals that seemed to have lost their lives were the ones that I put down myself.

  I shouldn’t have felt pride.

  But then again, they shouldn’t have tried to take her from me.

  “Tell me it will be Ok, Avalon,” Amelia whispered softly next to me.

  I was silent. I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t tell her that everything would be Ok. And even while I felt relief that nobody of mine died tonight, it was short lived.

  Talbott stood to his feet shakily. Seraphina helped him, supporting his weight with her shoulder. He asked her a question that I couldn’t hear from here, that I didn’t want to hear from here.

  It was in his face then. Grief. Despair. Pain. Outrage.

  He crumbled. I watched one of the strongest men I knew, crumble to the ground and come apart. He was a broken man, undone by grief.

  It was utterly excruciating to watch, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. And as his wails and keening pierced through the leftover quiet my heart shattered with his.

  Amelia gripped my shirt in her hands, clinging to me as if it were just as painful for her to listen to Talbott as it was for him to experience the night after it had already happened. Her fingernails dug into my skin, but I didn’t feel any pain. I couldn’t, not in comparison to Talbott. I had been left conscious to fight for the one I loved, to bring her back to me. And even though I didn’t believe there was a single person here capable of getting to Lilly tonight, not after that carefully planned attack, it was disgustingly unfair that Talbott wasn’t even given the chance.

  “That will never be you,” I felt myself say, my deep voice rumbled in my chest. But the sound felt far off and unattached. I tore my eyes away from Talbott to meet Amelia’s eyes. “That will never be you.” I said again in a harsh whisper, this time my voice felt at home in my lungs.

  “I know,” she answered back with perfect trust.

  “Marry me,” I demanded. She nodded, the fear in her eyes replaced with determination. I realized then that she might think I was still speaking about the future. “Tonight,” I clarified. “I meant tonight.”

  “I know,” she echoed.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The sun was just waking up, filling the barren field with hazy, gray light. We had returned to the farm, another place that had been destroyed by battle. We stood over
Amory’s unmarked grave, over the hardened ground where my sister buried my grandfather.

  Amelia’s hand was clutched in mine and she stared up at me with wide, hopeful eyes. I pulled her closer to me, hating the distance, the small separation. Only a few more minutes until we were bonded as one, until she would be forever mine.

  The gravesite was a completely abnormal place to have a wedding, I knew that. And the morning after one of the most traumatic nights of my life also probably terrible timing. But neither could be helped.

  I could not become Talbott.

  I refused that future.

  And because I knew I was ultimately Terletov’s goal, I had to protect everything that was dear to me. Amelia was most important, most crucial. I needed her to have my magic, to be protected by my bloodline. And there was only one way for her to have everything I had to offer.

  So we gathered near Amory, mostly because the field was lined with huge maple trees that had turned yellow at the end of October and the harvested field made a beautiful backdrop. But also because we had moved to the farm until we could get out of Omaha and back to the Citadel. Most of the party left last night, as soon as they could gather themselves and their belongings they were gone. Until I could move our party we stayed at the farm where I felt the safest.

  Which might be kind of ironic since it was the same place Lucan captured me and then dragged me away to jail.

  Still, I wasn’t going to argue with my gut. And my gut told me to come here.

  Finally, and this point could not be argued even with myself, I wanted this to happen close to Amory. I wanted him to somehow be a part of this next step in my life. It wasn’t easy getting married without him, or my parents, or even Angelica who had stayed back at the Citadel with Jericho. But I could do it if I was just near a part of him. And I felt like I was here. I felt like they were all here with me.

  Gabriel, who had been staring down at Amory’s grave for the past forty-five minutes, finally turned around. He was still in his priest’s garb, even though it was dusty and the hem of his long black robe was shredded. He had his rosary beads wrapped tightly around his fists and his orange eyes flickered brightly with emotion.

  He would perform this ceremony and then he was off to find Silas. This was his last favor to me. I was releasing him of my service until he came home with Silas, found whatever vindication he needed or died trying.

  His request and his words.

  Eden and Kiran stood up with us, one on each side and the only other guests in attendance were Sylvia, Sebastian and Amelia’s parents. Everyone else had left. Some to go home, some for the safety of the Citadel and those that worked with me had left with Talbott in search of Lilly. Gabriel would be joining them in twenty minutes.

  “Let us begin,” Gabriel announced. My eyes met Amelia’s across the short distance and we listened to Gabriel as he said the marriage promises that we would keep until our last breaths. His heavy Spanish accent flowed over the words and even through his pain he made our ceremony sound respectable.

  “Avalon and Amelia,” he asked, holding our attention as we promised our vows to each other. “Have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage? Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives? Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?"

  Amelia replied, “I will.”

  I echoed through the catch in my throat, “I will.

  Gabriel went on to say more vows that we repeated. I looked with intensity, with everything I was as a man, as King and as her husband and promised her, “I, Avalon, take you, Amelia, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in peace and in war. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”

  A tear slipped from her eye and fell to her still-dusty cheek. She smiled up at me the most dazzling smile I had ever seen. I leaned in to kiss her and earned a cough from Gabriel because it wasn’t time yet.

  There were no rings to exchange because Amelia was already wearing hers and refused to take it off and I didn’t have one. Gabriel said a prayer and then announced to our small gathering, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

  I obeyed.

  I leaned down and pulled her to me. I devoured her mouth in a hungry kiss that left me dizzy and wanting more. Our magics had been entwined together all night and all morning, but with the promise of forever firmly made they were free to meld completely together until they were almost one entity.

  I would make sure the union was complete as soon as I could get this girl alone.

  I felt the somber attitude of the morning cut through our happy moment and I reluctantly let go of my bride. I smiled down at her for one more perfect second while the light of the eastern rising sun lit up the wide open Nebraska sky in a rainbow of pinks, purples and oranges.

  “I love you,” I promised her.

  “I love you too,” she vowed back.

  “Will you meet up with Talbott?” I turned to Gabriel, tugging Amelia against my side. She squeezed against me before slipping away to talk to her parents.

  Gabriel and I turned to face Amelia and her family as they talked with Eden and Kiran in the frosted over field. Their breath puffed around them in small clouds. They laughed some, they cried some and they talked seriously most of all. This was a momentous occasion, and I was happy to be married, but not one of us would look back on this day with joy.

  “Yes,” Gabriel agreed. “We are going to track down Dmitri’s brother, Alexi. Silas had decided to follow a lead that would have taken him to Columbia, so that is where we will go. I will meet them in Mexico City.”

  “I want you to end this,” I instructed. “End it. Do whatever it takes.” I glanced over at him with his eyes that flickered like flames and his robes. Damn it. “Am I asking too much of you?”

  “No,” Gabriel assured me. “I was created a warrior.”

  I grunted at that. “As was I.”

  “You will not fight anymore. You are finished. Now you will be King,” Gabriel stated asking no questions only repeating answers he had decided on. “You have become the man you were meant to be.”

  I chewed on his words for several quiet moments before venturing into more personal, more dangerous territory. “And what about you? Are you the man you’re supposed to be?”

  A full minute of silence before he answered me, “I am the man I am supposed to be in this moment. And when I leave here I will hunt down a new destiny. It is not the wrong path, only a different path. The man I am supposed to be has yet to be decided.”

  “If you need me….” I offered, unable to respond to his cryptic riddles.

  “I won’t,” He answered honestly. “And when I’m finished you won’t need me either. I won’t come back to the Citadel. Whatever happens, you no longer need me.”

  He was right, but I hated what his words really implied. I hated that he would give up our Immortal world again no matter what the outcome of his search was.

  “Thank you,” I said instead of all my objections.

  “Avalon, thank you,” he finished with finality.

  And there it was. We had both given each other purpose in life; both helped each other find the right path. And now it was time to go our separate ways. His to rescue a friend, mine to my gorgeous wife.

  Amelia looked at me from across the field and I tilted my head for her to come near while Gabriel left to say his goodbyes to Eden. She came willingly into my arms and stayed there this time.

  “Will you go with him?” she asked, staring up at me, her chin resting on my chest.

  “No,” I shook my head. “I have decided to fight this war from my throne, from where I should have been all along.” And that was the truth. If I hadn’t been on the battlefield I could have been tracking Terletov better, more accurately. I could have suspected something like this would have
happened, or done a better job of preventing it.

  Or maybe I couldn’t have.

  But I knew now that my place was not on a battlefield where anything could happen to me. I had a call to rule this Kingdom and for the first time in my short history as King I needed to take that seriously.

  And for the first time in my short history as King, that task didn’t feel so bad. At least not when I had my Queen by my side.

  “Let’s go home,” Amelia commanded. And I simply followed.

  I ruled the Kingdom, but she ruled my heart.

  Acknowledgements

  This book was not planned or anticipated, but came out of a desperate need to write Avalon’s story. For that, I want to thank my readers who have been so incredibly dedicated to The Star-Crossed Series. You fell in love with my characters as hard and fast as I did and because of your steady enthusiasm Avalon got to find love! Thank you for reading and thank you for supporting Indie!

  And thank you to the bloggers that support not only me, but the entire Indie community. Every interview, cover reveal and author spotlight is the best kind of gift. You give your time and love generously and I am so grateful for that.

  I want and need to thank God; this book is finished by only a miracle of His grace. Never in a million years did I really believe I could get to do what I love, and live this dream. Thank you God for Your unlimited patience, mercy and grace, those gifts I could not live without.

  Thank you to Zach. You are the best kind of man. You are the inspiration for every love story I write, for every sarcastic comment and steamy make-out scene. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you. Your vision is so much bigger than mine, you see things that I don’t and we both know you bring the common sense to this marriage. I am so thankful for everything that you are and everything that you do for me and our kids. I love you.

  Thank you to my family. Mom you are my biggest fan and I am so blessed to have your love and support. Thank you for kicking me out of the house for college, for encouraging me to travel and the hours of babysitting you put in to help make my dreams come true. I want to be the kind of mother you are one day. Thank you to Ron, Randy and Robbie. You are the kind of brothers that make me thankful I never had a sister, the kind that left me with hilarious and terrifying memories and the kind that showed me respect and what it felt like to know I was protected. And thank you to Stella, Scarlett, Stryker and Solo. I write for you. I write in between your hours of sleep, your activities, in between the owies and the crafts and the hugs and I wouldn’t be writing if it weren’t for all those blessings. I love you all so much.