Page 65 of Light

Or so we’re furiously hoping.

In truth, we have no damn idea of what we’re heading into. I try telling myself this is no different than the insanity of sneaking into the Consortium’s Rancho Palos Verdes stronghold, taking nothing with me but Angelique, Wade, and a lot of guts. I also try justifying that this is no different than what I did a year before that, facing off to Angie in the courtyard of my apartment, back when she was still a Consortium henchwoman. No-go on either. This party is different, and it’s not just about the sparse décor in this part of the underworld. Maybe that’s why Reece is taking the journey at his zombie-plod pace instead of an urgent sprint.

But I don’t think so.

I think it’s about everything I’m not seeing here.

And everything he is.

The mists of his nightmares. The ghosts of his torturers. The pain of his prison.

The essence of what transformed him.

I hope he’ll accept at least that affirmation, but no-go on that as well.

There are some nights the brightest lights aren’t meant to penetrate. Memories the strongest love can’t totally erase. And from the moment I learned my hunk-boss-lover was really the electric hero of my city, I knew I had to accept such darkness as part of him. I had to embrace his shadows along with his radiance, his black alleys along with his neon boulevards.

And the walks through underground hells like this—bearing dim but high torches of hope.

A hope that my brave, beautiful superhero actually summons the strength to vocalize…

As we stop in front of a wall made out of fresh-fallen earth, broken chunks of tile, and giant slabs of concrete.

“Holy God. If I can save just one of them…”

He trails off, exposing the hitch of his own air, lost to the inexpressible emotions that take over his face. But that’s okay. I already have the extra match for his torch.

“You mean if we can save just one?”

He tightens his grip against mine. His touch zaps me with sharper force. A billion fireflies zoom up my arm, across my chest, and all the way down the other arm. It’s nothing different than the effect the man has had on me so many other times, but it’s also wholly new. There’s extra depth to his electricity. A harmony to his thrumming melody. A song his heart has never played for me before—because, I sense, he’s never played it for himself before.

“Do you know how much I love you?” The music resonates in every syllable of his declaration. It fills my soul with an answering song as his dazzling silver stare takes me in. His thick dark hair tumbles against his rugged temples and jawline, turning him into an electric rogue. I flash back a lady pirate grin, indulging just one moment of obnoxious bliss. The man’s most slay-worthy gorgeous glance of his entire life, and I’m the sole creature who gets to bask in it. Though I’ll smell like a dirt clod the rest of my life, which may only be for another few minutes if this tunnel decides to go Armageddon on us, I’ll die with a shit-eating smirk on my face.

“With lines like that, mister, you have two choices.” I practically punch myself for actually issuing the interruption here, but at this point, eye-fucking each other won’t get us anywhere.

“And what exactly might those be, Mistress Flare?” he drawls.

“Fire up my lips, or fire up your diggin’ lasers.”

The hunk has the nerve to ponder the question for another couple of seconds, ensuring my dying smirk will now be a bit wider, before turning and extending his fingers. He flicks them as if tossing off water, which serves as the On switch for those ten bright new blazes. Another unforgettable moment only my eyes will be treated to. Never has the man’s power been more awestriking. Even his fingernails are part of the effort, their edges outlined as if Lux went at him with a silver metallic Sharpie.

Silver metal—that soon turns gold.

Reflecting the sun-colored energy that I summon to my hands.

His gorgeous eyes are a similar mix as the man squares his shoulders, braces his stance, and looks to me for one last, love-filled second. We grab the treat selfishly, acknowledging that it really might be our last.

As in, ever.

But if this is how I’m going to go, this is how I want it to be. Buried beneath the city that I love, next to the man gifted to me by the wisdom of the cosmos, knowing that my son is safe, never to be exposed to any knowledge of this dark world. He was named after light, and I’m determined he’ll always live in it.

As the truth of my heart fills every pore of my body, I affirm it all with one tick of a confident nod toward my surreal hotness of a husband. “Ready to crush this dogpile, Zeus Man?”

Reece lifts a lopsided grin. “When you are, goddess sun at the center of my world.”

REECE

An hour later, I’m truly ready to crown her as that actual goddess.