Her surrender of the dagger is something I don’t deserve.
Not ever.
And yet . . .
Every choice has consequences.
She’s made hers.
I’ve made mine.
I walk quickly through the thin crowd over to the bar where Onyx is. When I’m a few steps away, she looks up, her knowing gaze meeting mine. Indecision wages war across her features as I approach. She’s studying me like she wants to strangle me with her bare hands. We both know at some point I’m going to pay for my sins. For taking the card knowing I don’t deserve it or Katya. And I never will. Even so, she’s going to hand it over to me.
Her voice is husky as she greets me. “See any stars on the rooftop tonight?”
“Light,” I manage, lost in thoughts of Katya. “I saw the light.”
Onyx’s eyes widen for a bit. “You have it bad for her.”
I still. “It doesn’t matter what I feel for her.”
“That’s where you are wrong.”
“I can’t offer her what she needs.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
I rub my face. “I don’t want to feel this way.”
“I suspect Katya doesn’t either, and yet . . .” She lifts a shoulder.
“Yet what?”
“She does.” Onyx frowns.
“Feelings change things,” I growl.
“And yet, without them, we’re nothing.”
“You think she has feelings for me?” I scoff.
“What greater show of love than taking the sins of those you care for and putting them on your shoulders? She protects the dagger, hides it in the card, and yet, she surrendered it to you.”
“Against my wishes,” I whisper, and she smirks.
“All night you’ve been seeking it. Now that you have it, you don’t want it?”
“No.”
“The card is your fate.” She slaps the card on the bar, sliding it across to me.
I look down at it for a long moment before taking it off the bar.
Handing this card over to me is the ultimate sacrifice.
Or the ultimate test of loyalty.
I stare at the dagger hidden in it and decide not to use a spell to release it. What is it about Katya that has me doubting my only task, my sole purpose? When I kiss her, I feel free. Happy.
“Dragneel, she asked me to give it to you. Take it. The ball is over. You’ve won.”
Won. Have I? I don’t feel like I’ve won. Not at all. I close my eyes briefly, and Katya appears behind the lids. Her eyes will haunt me for the rest of my life if I walk away. I have no idea why.
When I open my lids, I flip the card over. Katya has written on it: save someone. Reading those two words causes realization to dawn on me. The blood magic hasn’t saved her. It just bought her time. Katya is still dying because she is still changing fates. Fucking stubborn mage.
How did I not see that before? Sense it in her words or eyes?
Exhaling, I look around the ball just as the sound of fireworks pulls me out of my thoughts.
And my decision is made.
I choose to save her.
Chapter Eleven
Fuck The Darkness
Katya
My heart is heavy as I watch the bright lights of the fireworks. The night is over. The Ball has ended, for this year at least. Soon, we’ll all be home. The night will be a distant memory. I grip the railing tightly with each pop and hiss the fireworks make. Even though I made the right decision by giving Dragneel the dagger with eternal magic, I can’t help but be sad.
I’m sure he’s long gone by now.
A dark, desperate thought grips me. What if all this time, I was protecting the dagger to save myself? I didn’t tell Dragneel this, but I am still dying. Each time I twist fates, even with the blood magic running through my veins, I am that much closer to death. I keep doing it because, in the end, everyone deserves to be happy like the guests who are leaving here tonight.
Turning, I smile and move along the edges of the crowd before cutting through a group and heading toward the door. My night is over. It is time to return to reality. Once I’ve managed to push my way through the crowd, I look up—my eyes locking with Dragneel’s narrowed gaze.
I take in all of his beauty, landing on the frown on his face. It changes colors with the fireworks display, which shadows him in darkness, then light—a new and appropriate contradiction.
He stands there, and the crowd around us falls away.
I stare at him. I can’t not.
And my stupid heart stutters.
I take a step.
Then he stalks toward me.
We meet halfway.
Before I can say or do anything, he kisses me. Hard. Desperate. Furious.
His lips are fierce and unforgiving. Powerful and possessive.
I fall into the kiss, trying not to think about anything beyond moving my lips across his.
Desire and anger fill me as I take from him.
“Do you have feelings for me?” he asks me against my mouth.
I still and lean away. My gaze roams over him. He’s so damn handsome.
“Do you?” he growls.
“Can you not tell?” I reply quietly.
Dragneel grabs my hand and twists it so my palm is facing up.
Then he slaps the card in it.
“I choose to save you.” He looks pained at the thought.
“No.” My tone is absolute, unbending.
He smiles darkly at me. “Even when I surrender to you, you fight back.”
“I don’t need saving.”
“You do. I know you’re still dying, Kat. I won’t allow it.”
How the hell does he know? Damn him.
My eyes search his, and in them, I see something.
I shouldn’t dare to hope for what I think it is, but I can feel it with every breath I take.
“I was never supposed to care for you,” I state. “But—”
“But what?”
“I do,” I admit.
Dragneel takes a deep breath. “Good. Then fuck the darkness that’s in us.”
I close my eyes at his words and hold my breath.
“Tell me to save you, Kat. To be your light.”
My eyelids flutter open, and the corners of his mouth curve up. “Save me.”
He cocks his head to the side, holding out his hand. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Does it matter? As long as we’re together?”
My lips part, but he doesn’t give me a chance to reply before his mouth is on mine. Crushing our lips together, kissing me gently and adoringly. This kiss is filled with firm determination.
When he pulls back, he winks and tugs my hand forward to follow him.
I don’t give it a second thought.
I follow, trying hard not to look back.
Fuck the darkness.
I choose him.
The End
Turn the page for more Monster Ball…
As
You
Wish
Chapter One
My insides twisted as the sensation of being summoned swam through my veins. If only I could ignore it. I wanted to, but it was impossible. There was no ignoring a demon calling.
Especially not one you were bound to for eternity.