Between the Moon and Her Night (Between Life and Death #3)

Chapter 35

Aurelia

“A urelia!” Arkyn exclaimed as he jolted up from the window seat he had been sitting on when I walked through the door into the large study a few hours later. The room was spacious, filled with furniture, sprawling rugs, and mahogany bookshelves that ran from floor to ceiling. There was a large, darkly stained table that sat just off to the side, surrounded by chairs.

We rushed towards one another, embracing each other tightly. But the warmth I felt from being reunited was swiftly replaced by a bitter taste on my tongue—as if I had bitten into a lemon peel. I choked on it.

Sputtering, I quickly pulled back from Arkyn. The taste began to recede.

I turned around, finding cruel green eyes locked on me. Their owner had his muscular arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the doorway, a sinister sneer on his lips .

“Are you alright?” Arkyn asked, pulling my attention back to him.

“Just swallowed funny,” I lied poorly then I snarled across our bond, You are jealous of me hugging an old friend?

An old friend whose cock practically burst through his pants when he saw you, Von answered with a growl.

You are ridiculous .

Shall I have my shadows dissolve his breeches and show you the extent of his enjoyment in seeing you?

“One moment,” I said to Arkyn, smiling softly. I spun on the back of my heel, my lips thinning as I stomped towards Von. I shoved against him, my hands pressing against his iron forearms. “Get out!”

Von snorted, his monstrous frame not budging an inch. His massive hands grabbed hold of my wrists, shackling them. He leaned in, his masculine amber scent washing over me, steady eyes holding mine as he said, “No.”

One word from him. That was all it took to make me see red.

With a snarl on my lips, I said, “You egotistical—

“It’s alright, Aurelia,” Arkyn cut me off, his voice urgent, as if he thought he was protecting me.

I glared at Von.

He grinned in return.

I narrowed my eyes on him, shooting out imaginary daggers. When it only seemed to feed his smirk, I rolled my eyes, yanked my wrists from his oversized mitts, and gave him my back.

I looked to Arkyn—his auburn brows were anchored in concern, shadowing his honey-brown eyes. His eyes had always seemed to glitter, as if there were flecks of gold sewn into them, but right now, they seemed dull. Apart from that, he seemed thinner than I remembered him being, as if something had been eating away at him.

“Why are you here?” I asked as I walked towards him.

He looked past me, to Von.

“He won’t leave, so you might as well say whatever it is you have come to say,” I sighed with an apologetic smile.

Arkyn clenched his molars, the muscles in his jaw pushing out at the sides. He exhaled a withheld breath, relaxed his mouth, and then said, “Aurelius is not doing well.”

My stomach churned at the mention of my ex-husband. The male who had robbed me of so many years of my life. Who had snapped my bones as easily as he had destroyed my trees. Suddenly, I felt Von standing behind me, his shadow falling over me like a dutiful soldier covering its commander on a bloody battlefield.

Under Death’s protection, I said, “And of what concern should that be to me?”

A crease formed between Arkyn’s brows. “You cannot mean that.”

“You saw what he did to me.”

“Yes, I was there. And he lost his temper with you. He never should have done that. Any of it. But he has been broken since you left. He is not thinking correctly, and his divinity is not acting as it should. The New Gods are losing confidence in him, Nicholas as well. I fear what might happen if he does not pull himself together.”

“So what would you have me do?” I shook my head, a great hurt welling in my chest. If I had ever wondered where Arkyn’s allegiances lay when it came to me and Aurelius, now I was given a blunt answer. Ultimately, he sided with his sire. That small bit of hurt fed the flames of my anger as I raised my voice at him. “Return to the man who betrayed me? Abused me?” I scoffed. “I will do no such thing, and you are a fool to even ask.”

“Aurelia, you are not acting like yourself,” Arkyn lowered his voice, his eyes darting to Von—suspicion abound.

I knew what that look meant. He thought Von was controlling me somehow. As if I was a puppet and he was the master making me do as he pleased. Making me speak the words I had just spoken as if I was a brainless mouthpiece.

But Von was not Aurelius.

And he had never silenced my voice.

Not once.

My divinity brimmed to the surface, filling my voice with might. “I have never been more myself, and the fact that you do not see that makes me wonder if we were ever truly friends. You have wasted your time in coming here. Go back to your king, Arkyn.”

He looked as if I had slapped him across the face.

I didn’t wait for a reply as I turned, strode around Von, and walked towards the door. Von followed behind me.

“Aurelia, wait!” Arkyn cried out.

Aurelia. That name. I was so sick of it.

I spun back around and thundered towards him. “Do not call me that.”

“What?” Arkyn shook his head, trying to grasp at something he could never understand.

“ That is not my name,” I growled at him, years of bottled feelings pouring out of me.

“If that is not your name, what is?”

“My name is—” I looked around me, my gaze landing on the table to my right. A silver bowl sat there, with an unburned smudge stick in it. Without thinking, I grabbed it and lobbed it at him as I shouted, “—Sage!”

And I’d be damned . . .

The name felt right.

As stupid and impulsive as it seemed—it felt . . . like me. And it couldn’t have come at a better time—when I was standing up for myself.

Arkyn ducked and that sage stick sailed right on past him, hitting the window behind him and falling to the floor. Wide, honey-brown eyes met mine and Arkyn raised his hands in defense. “Alright, I hear you. I did not come here to anger you and I am sorry for that. That was not my intention at all.”

“So what did you expect to achieve by coming here?”

“In truth, I saw all of this going much differently. I expected to find you in chains. I had planned to barter for your freedom,” he said truthfully, living up to his godly title.

Von scoffed, his deep voice interjecting. “And what could you possibly have that you think I would trade for her?”

“I wondered if you might have changed your mind. That perhaps the very thing you traded in the first place, the Living and the Immortal Realms, would entice you to strike a new bargain,” Arkyn answered, his eyes shifting to Von. “I could make it so that they would be yours again.”

Von was silent for a moment. A long moment. “How?”

Betrayal gutted me where I stood. This had nothing to do with my freedom and all to do with getting me back into Aurelius’s greedy hands. “You cannot be serious,” I said to Von.

But Von didn’t reply.

“In his current state, Aurelius is not fit to lead.” Arkyn’s eyes shifted briefly to me. “If you grant the Goddess of Life her freedom and my father safe passage to Edenvale, where he will be safe from those who might try to harm him, then I, the future king of the realms, will hand them over to you.”

Goddess of Life. I couldn’t help but notice how Arkyn was unwilling to call me by the name I had just chosen for myself. It struck a sour note.

Von started. “Well, well, well. I did not expect to hear this, of all things, today. However, I’m not interested.” My soul galloped wildly as he walked over to me, taking me in his strong, sturdy arms.

“But you would be king of all Three Realms again,” Arkyn challenged.

Von caressed my cheek, his gaze firmly holding mine as he said, “Without Sage , I would be the king of nothing.”

He’d used my name. Not Aurelia. Not Little Goddess. Or Kitten. But my name.

He was proving a point to Arkyn—to me.

That he honored me.

Respected me.

At that moment, if he would have asked me to be his queen, I think I might have said yes.