Page 80 of This Shattered Star

“Why would you offer this to me and not someone else?”

His voice rose slightly. “Because I do not wantsomeone else.”

This was insanity. And yet, I couldn’t dismiss the way the crown fit perfectly in my hands. The way it fit even better on my head.

He let go of my hands, only to cradle the back of my head with a tenderness that weakened my knees. “Ichoseyou. You and me. Every moment we’ve shared. Has it all meant nothing to you?”

“Don’t you dare turn this around,” I growled. I hoped,prayed,to find a sign of the king in his face. But I couldn’t find any. Which made the hurt tainting his expression all the more unbearable. “It has meanteverythingto me.” The admission was hushed. Fragile.

“So then why hesitate? Why push it away?”

“Because I still don’t understand.” Unshed tears burned my lower lashes.

“You will.”

“Help me,” I begged, bottom lip trembling “Help me understand. I am so tired of feeling lost—tired of feeling likeI am the only one who does not have the answers to my own existence.”

“You are far from lost,” he whispered. “You are exactly where you need to be.”

A soft gasp left me as he angled his head just so.This is it, I thought. Once this line was crossed, there would be no going back.

But he didn’t cross it.

His lips only ghosted across mine as he said, “I promise, I will explain everything properly. After you’ve completed the final trial. Once you have returned from the Temple of Borealis.”

I dropped the crown then.

I expected it to shatter into thousands of pieces once it hit the ground. I expected to break into an equal number of pieces alongside it.

But it never made contact. It vanished into nothing, like it had never existed to begin with.

I could’ve almost sworn the stars heaved a mighty sigh.

Laying my palms flat on his chest, I pushed enough to break free of his hold. “Send me back to the tower.” The demand was as cold as the air that bit at my exposed skin, reminding me of where I was. Of who waited for me, several floors below.

Raw hurt flashed across his face once again, so potent that I fought the urge to melt back into his embrace, if only to find a way to absorb it all and rid him of it. He schooled it away as quickly as it came, though I knew better than to believe he no longer felt it.

“We can discuss this further.”

“There is nothing you could tell me of value that you do not wish to reveal to me until after I’ve completed my part in your games, like a good little chess piece,” I said rigidly. Like a true member of his vapid court. “My use to you here, in this moment, is now null.”

“You know that is far from the truth,” he argued. “There are forces at play here. Forces you cannot begin to fathom—” he stopped at my pointed glare. Sighing, the corners of his mouth tightened in exasperation.

You’re the unreasonable one,I wanted to point out.Not me.

“I have never once offered to share my crown with any woman since the beginning of my reign over four-hundred years ago. Never once let my heart of stone beat hard and true.” He laid a hand over his heart in emphasis. “Never have I let a womanseeme. Not as you do.”

He took my right hand and held it under his, guiding it across his chest until I could feel a steady, thumping beatagainst my palm.

“I don’t know the first thing about how to handle this.Us.What to say, or what to do. But my heart is beating, Eloise. It will continue to do so, only for you, until you are ready.”

Again, I was reminded that he was just a man, burdened with a task the gods had bestowed upon him that weighed more than most could handle. And had been carrying that weight for hundreds of years.

I stood opposite of him, a woman equally touched by the gods. But as much as he’d been granted power, I’d been robbed of it. The scale between us leveled at an impasse.

I’d secretly dreamed of him saying those words to me. Had begged the stars for it. Foranythingthat would cross out the fate I’d been given. And now, they’d gone still. Quiet. Like they’d abandoned their batons and simply watched. Held their breath.

I slid my hand out from beneath his. It took two tries to clear the tightness in my throat. “If you care for me at all, you will return me to the tower.”