She would be standing there on that quiet little cobbled street, glancing up at each set of approaching footsteps, a smile spreading over her sweet lips, her breath hitching in anticipation of seeing me walk around the corner. My heart shattered at the vision of the dejection that would fill her sapphire eyes when she realized I wouldn’t.

How long would she wait? Would she return every day to see if I was there? Would she look for me?

Will she forget?

“You disregarded the orders of your king,” he said, eerily calm. “And this is not your first transgression, is it? Your task was simple, to oversee the humans, but you let your greed prevail. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Greed?” I scoffed in disbelief, dejection worming its way deep into my bones. “I fell in love. It was not a decision I made. I didn’t do it out of spite, or whatever other nefarious reasons you’re inventing. It just happened. The Creators’ will.” Despite the situation I was in, for a split second, frustration overtook my senses, and I bared my fangs. “But I suppose you wouldn’t know what that feels like.”

The minute hint of an expression on the king’s face vanished in an instant. My blood ran cold.

He straightened, lifting his chin—a ruthless leader, preparing to dole out my sentence. I had signed my own death warrant. “Zadok Velarde, you are hereby banished from the kingdom,” he decreed. “You will remove all memory of yourself from the creatures who knew you and be shipped to the Outerlands, where you will reside for the rest of your days. Forgotten, except by the one you love most.”

No.

No, no, no.

“Banish me to the human realm,” I begged, tears welling in my eyes as I struggled against my bonds, my scalp burning. It was what he wanted. To see me broken and humiliated. Well, he could have it. I would forfeit what remained of my pride. I’d give up everything if it won me the chance to be with my mate. “I won’t return! I won’t bring her back through the Veil, I swear!”

“If you make an attempt to return to the human realm, I will have your human killed,” he rumbled, the sound a death knell haunting my very soul. “Do you understand me?”

I trembled, feeling three feet tall, a child in the shadow of a monster. “L-let me send her a missive, a note to explain that I won’t return. Grant me that mercy, at least? Please.”

“No. I want you plagued with the knowledge that she will spend whatever human years she has left believing you abandoned her.”

“Naeron, please,” I sobbed, uncaring of my dignity. “I’m your oldest friend. Don’t do this. I’ll do anything, just let me be with her.”