His eyes swept over the city. Tens of thousands of people waited for him to awaken them from their slumbers and revive their world. They, too, would perish before the sun set, along with every other person in the realm.
And Naia.
The pain was back.
He pushed away from the window and pulled on his breeches and boots, unable to think clearly whenever his mind went to her. He wanted to crawl into bed beside her and make love to her up until the very last moment of their existence. He had swept them both into pleasure unknown before last night, and it was not enough.
Accustomed to solving his problems through battle, he stood and thought hard, pulling on his tunic. Never before was he willing to listen to Naia's insistence there was more than one way to resolve the conflict between Black Moon Draw and Brown Sun Lake. Mayhap it was pride, arrogance, or desperation, but he wished now he had tried a different approach at least once. The reasoning that it never worked for his predecessors suddenly seemed foolish, especially when he considered that neither had battle.
Strapping on his weapons, he snatched up the boar's head worn by every Shadow Knight for a thousand years and hesitated, gaze going to the woman sleeping in his bed.
Her face glowed, even in sleep. Naia was curled up on her side, clutching a pillow, her dark hair spilling over the pillow.
He did not deserve to touch her, not last night, not now. A victor deserved a queen.
A coward deserved death.
If he was not able to find another way to do the impossible and save the woman who held his heart, then he would die trying.
Placing the boar's head over his own, he turned away and strode to the door, determined to find the Desert Knight of Brown Sun Lake among the changing maze of the castle.