She threw her arms in the air walking past him to the door with a huff. “Great, can’t even threaten my man because he thinks it’s a turn on. Nice.”

He chuckled as he followed her, enjoying her aggravation a little more than was healthy.

Chapter 14

“So many lives have been lost at my hand; so many hearts destroyed, both figuratively and literally. Still, there will be more before the day is done. I will have to kill; I will have to slay in order to keep the one I love safe. I must unleash the darkness just one more time. I hope she can forgive me for what I have to do.” ~Trik

Cassie could feel him pulling away, putting distance between them. She watched as he laced up his boots, such a human task, and yet he did it with the grace of an otherworldly being. He didn’t look at her, but she knew that he could feel her eyes on him. Finally, after a morning of quiet, he stood and met her stare.

“What, Cassandra?”

“I know that today isn’t going to be pretty. I know that there will be casualties and that you are going to have to kill. So why are you treating me as if I have condemned you?” she asked him suddenly sounding every bit as desperate as she felt. She didn’t need him pulling away from her, not now, not just before they went up against the one man who had stripped her of her dignity.

Trik let out a deep breath and looked away from her as he spoke. “You are so very young and so very innocent, and I don’t say that,” he hurried on, “to make you feel like a child or to insinuate that you aren’t capable of handling what we are going to face today. I say that because I have to remind myself that not everyone has been in battle. Not everyone has killed for a living and not everyone is as cold on the inside as I am.” He turned back to her and his silver eyes locked onto hers. “Let’s just get through this alive and then we can deal with the aftermath, whatever that may be. Meet me in the throne room when you are ready.”

She started to say something but he was already closing the door behind him. Cassie stood staring at the door, wondering what she had done wrong. All night he had held her, kissed her, and told her how much he wanted a future with her, and then this morning it was as if he had just turned a switch and suddenly he was Trik, dark assassin, again. She didn’t know how to talk to this Trik; she didn’t know how to reason with him.

She finished getting dressed and decided to do just what he said, focus on staying alive and get through the fight. She could deal with him when everything was said and done. She just hoped that they were both alive to do that when the time came.

Suddenly the door flew open and Trik came storming in. On his face, a mixture of pain, anger, fear, and love warred as if he couldn’t decide which one ruled him. He walked right up to her and looked into her eyes. “Marry me,” he told her. “Marry me right now.” He turned then and Tamsin walked in much more calmly.

“Cassie,” he smiled gently.

Cassie looked back at Trik. “Is this what your problem has been this morning? You’re cranky because I haven’t married you?” They had talked about it at length in the dark of night but Cassie hadn’t committed to a time frame. She still felt too young in many ways to marry, but she also knew that in many ways marrying Trik was the least of her responsibilities.

Trik ignored her and turned instead to Tamsin and motioned for him to start.

“We are gathered here today,” his words flowed out and Cassie looked up at Trik in shock. What on earth was he doing? She wasn’t really listening to Tamsin; her attention was too focused on Trik.

“I do,” Trik said as his eyes bore into hers.

“Cassie?” Tamsin called her name. She turned and looked up at him.

“Do you take Triktapic to be your lawful wedded husband? Will you love and comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him as long as you both shall live?”

Cassie looked from Tamsin to Trik. She knew what she wanted to say—knew that she wanted this more than anything, and yet the words were frozen on the tip of her tongue.

“Cassie?” Tamsin asked again.

“Why?” Cassie managed to get out finally.

“Why what?” Trik asked.

“Why now? Why are you doing this now?”

“Because if I die today I need to die knowing you were mine in every realm—my Chosen in this realm and my wife in yours. I need to know that I laid claim to you in every way because I love you. From the moment you came running into that boardroom looking utterly terrified and beautiful, I knew you were it for me. Marry me, Cassandra. Be my wife, my Queen, my love.”

Cassie felt the air sucked from her lungs as she heard the sincerity in his words. The silver in his eyes swirled as he held her gaze. As his hand cupped her face, she felt his soul calling out for her.

“I do,” she found herself saying almost without thought. “I do,” she said again more firmly. Trik’s face broke out into a breathtaking smile and his lips were pressed to hers before Tamsin could even get the words kiss your bride out.

Cassie didn’t hear the door click closed when Tamsin left them alone. All of her focus was on her husband. He kissed her as though his life depended on it, as though the air from her lungs would give him that life. Cassie felt their souls touch and felt the rightness between them. Trik was where she belonged. She missed her parents, she longed for her world, but with Triktapic, her dark assassin, was where she was meant to be.