grind out.
Godiva takes a step forward, but my eyes narrow and she wisely stops her approach. “I didn’t know. My love for my once-sweet sister was all that I could see. I did not realize the depths of her abuse and the darkness that she allowed to control her. She cloaked herself, she fooled me.”
I want to be angry with Godiva, but I can’t find it inside of me, not when I would die for my sisters, myself. Turning to her, I bite my bottom lip and inhale a deep breath.
“Can you fix him?” I ask, though it comes out like more of a demand than a question.
I am too far past niceties at this point. I want my husband back and I want him back the way that he left me. I don’t want him to not remember me, I don’t want him to have fallen out of love with me. I want him just the way I had him, every inch of his stubborn, asshole self.
Aleida shakes her head slowly, her sad eyes meeting mine. “If we bring him back, he may not be the same.”
“He’s not dead,” I snap.
Godiva nods her head once. “You are correct. The king lives. He has dark magic inside of him and all that we can do is try and rid his body of that. We won’t know the effects it will have on any part of him until he wakes.”
“You can reverse her spell?” I ask on a whisper.
Aleida presses her lips together, her eyes looking at me with nothing other than pure pity in her gaze. “It does not work that way, Your Majesty,” she murmurs. “I wish that it did, I truly wish that we could rid you of your emotional pain.”
“What happens to the prophecy if he does not love me when he wakes up?” I ask.
My eyes travel over to Elias, I watch him, willing him to naturally open his eyes, but he doesn’t. Shifting my gaze back over my shoulder, I lift my chin toward the witches. “Wake him. Take the dark magic from him if you can. He needs to be alive and healthy for his people.”
“The prophecy? You, Your Highness?” Aleida breathes.
Shaking my head, I bite back more tears, refusing to let them fall. “It will hurt if he doesn’t remember me. It would suck ass, but I won’t stop loving him and if it’s meant to be, he will find his way back to me.”
I’m not sure that I believe my own words, knowing that they are most likely a lie. But maybe they aren’t, maybe I can make him love me. He fell for me once, he can again. If the prophecy was put into motion by the gods, then maybe it’s time for those fucks to intervene anyway.
“Continue to hold him,” Aleida mutters before a gray haze starts to swirl around us.
“Will it help?” I ask.
“It couldn’t hurt.”
I keep my gaze focused on him, watching, waiting to see him open those steel-blue eyes and take me in. I pray to my God as they summon all of their magic around us and I hold my breath, waiting and waiting for it to happen.
Elias’ back arches off of the bed, his eyes open and he inhales a deep breath right before the gray mist vanishes. His eyes find mine, but I can’t read the expression on his face. I continue to hold my breath, waiting, praying, willing him to speak, to remember—to love.
Chapter Thirty-Six
SYBILLA
The witches are still behind me, but I cannot do anything but stare at the man in front of me. His eyes roam over my face, watching me, searching my gaze as he continues to stay silent. Then, as if something shakes him, his shoulder jerks and he sits straight up.
“What’s happened?” he demands, his eyes sliding past me, behind me, and to the witches.
My heart starts to slam against my chest, my stomach clenches and my entire body feels heavy and sensitive. His hand stays in mine, but he doesn’t grasp my fingers with his own, he doesn’t know who I am.
“My sister, Ryia, was full of dark magic straight from Hades himself,” Godiva whispers.
Elias jerks his chin, though he doesn’t speak right away. “Tell Merek I wish to see him, immediately. I will have a meeting in the chancery of this castle, you two will be there,” he growls.
I assume the witches leave, but I cannot take my eyes off of Elias. The door closes and the