Luna swallowed and blew out a slow breath. “I want to be free. I want to do as I like, where and when I like, without the constant fear that my life isn’t really my own. That it could change at any moment, and I’d be lost. And I want… I want to live like that with you at my side. Irrevocably.”
That word. If she was saying what he thought she was saying… A lance of something far stronger than desire shot through him. Necessary, and reaching out for her. Only her.
“I see nothing impossible about that.”
Her quiet laugh was sad. “Then we are at an impasse, because I see nothingpossibleabout it.”
That tone, so bloody resigned.
“Do you trust me?”
Luna blinked up at him and searched his face. “Yes. Sisters save me, but… somehow, I do.”
The same question he’d asked her while they’d been descending into the chasm—a far different answer in return, and all the encouragement he needed.
“Then hear what I am about to tell you, and believe it, because I swear on those Sisters I will never lie to you, and I will never go back on my word.”
Brand let his hands trail down her sides as he sank to his knees before her, tendrils of steam dancing around them. “No one holds more power than an Imperial. If you want to be free, then free you shall be because I will make it so. Whatever you fear, I will gladly spend my every waking moment at war with it until you are released of the burden. And if you are lost, I will find you.”
Whisper…
He gripped her hips harder and tugged her closer. “There is nothing you could say that would make me forsake you. Nothing you could do. If we lived forever and you never said another word about your past, I wouldn’t give a single shite. I am already yours, Lunara. Irrevocably.”
“We were supposed to talkaftera bath,” she whispered. “And f-food.”
“Things don’t always go to plan,” he laughed out. “Sometimes, it’s a good thing.”
Luna nodded, dazed, as if she’d never thought of it like that before. Shite, he rarely did, but with her it was easy.
“I meant all of it, little moon. Whenever you’re ready, you need only say the word, and I will spend the rest of our livesat your sideproving it.”
Not because she was his true mate—only an added blessing, at this point—but because he was bloody fucking in love withher, and he wanted her to believe it.
Her head tilted, brow furrowed. “I…”
He didn’t dare to move, to breathe.
Whisper…
A muscle under her eye twitched. Luna lifted her chin and broke away, walking backwards, something a little wild in her look. Pausing just shy of the pool, she?—
Her dress was gone in a flash of light, every inch of her revealed.
“I’m ready.”
Burning fucking Solyrian.
“Are you?—”
“For the love of the Sisters, Brand, donotask me if I’m sure. No one in their right mind wouldn’t be sure after the things you just said. I’ve…” Her cheeks puffed out. “I’ve been waiting fifty-two years for this moment. To be brave enough to take whatIwant. Please, don’t make me wait any longer.”
Brand was on his feet and surrounded by her before he knew he was moving—hands sinking into her thighs as they wrapped around him, mouths fused, her body crushed between his and the wall.
When she cried out to the rafters, he took advantage and lavished the column of her throat with his tongue, tasting the salt on her damp skin. The life.
“I don’t… suppose you could…” he said between nips and licks, “get rid of—” Another flash and they were skin to skin.“Yes.”
He latched on to a dusky nipple, rolling the beaded tip under his tongue. She bucked, dragging her hot center over the length of his rigid cock. He wanted to sink into her, hard and fast. Fuck her until they both collapsed, but?—
