"What would you like to learn?" I asked instead of voicing my fears.
Color flooded his cheeks, but he held my gaze steadily. "Everything. I want to know what else my body can do, what other ways I can please you. I want to understand this dynamic we've found, explore every aspect of what it means to be yours."
To be yours.The phrase hit me like a physical blow, so perfectly chosen and so heartbreakingly temporary. For twenty-eight days, he would be mine in every way that mattered. After that...
After that, he would return to his own life, his own ambitions, his own carefully planned future. And I would be left with memories of what it felt like to hold someone's complete surrender in my hands.
"We have time," I said, reaching out to cup his facewith my free hand. "Twenty-eight days to discover whatever this bond can become."
He leaned into my touch with a sigh of contentment that made my heart clench. "It already feels like more than I deserve."
"You deserve everything," I said fiercely, the words torn from some deep place inside me. "Never doubt that."
The smile he gave me was radiant with trust and growing affection, and I had to look away before he could see the pain I was fighting to conceal. This was what I had chosen—to love completely while I could, to give him everything he needed during our time together, to make these twenty-eight days as perfect as possible regardless of what came after.
Even if it destroyed me in the process.
"More wine?" I asked, refilling his chalice to give my hands something to do.
"Please." He accepted the drink with a grateful smile, then settled back against the cushions with obvious contentment. "I could stay like this forever."
Forever.Another word that hit like a blade, sharp with impossible longing.
But I smiled and raised my own chalice in a toast, because that's what he needed from me. Celebration, not sorrow. Joy in what we were building, not fear of its inevitable end.
"To discovery," I said, clinking my chalice against his.
"To surrender," he replied, and the way he said it made it sound like a sacred vow.
We drank together in the moonlit chamber, surrounded by the symbols of our separate futures, and I tried to focus on the warmth of his presence rather than the countdown that had already begun in my heart.
Twenty-eight days.
I would make them count.
Chapter
Ten
RION
The training yard felt different under the morning sun, as if the light itself had changed quality since the bonding ceremony three days ago. I moved through the familiar drills with total precision—thrust, parry, advance, retreat—but my body carried new awareness in every line. The bond hummed beneath my skin like a second heartbeat, a constant reminder of hands that had claimed me, lips that had commanded my surrender.
"Form up!" Sergeant Korven's voice cut through the morning air, harsh as always but somehow less intimidating than before. Strange how perspective shifted when you'd discovered the power that lived in yielding rather than conquering.
I fell into line beside Talis and Alyon, both of whom had been stealing glances at me all morning with barely concealed curiosity. The fact that I'd moved to the bonded quarters hadn't escaped anyone's notice, nor had the way I moved—looser somehow,more fluid, as if some long-held tension had finally been released.
"Looking well-rested, Rion," Talis commented during a brief water break, his tone carefully neutral. "The bond treating you kindly?"
The question hung in the air between us, weighted with the kind of casual interest that meant everything and nothing. Around us, other militants paused in their conversations, ears pricked for whatever details I might share. Bonds were simultaneously the most discussed and least understood aspect of temple life—everyone had theories, but actual firsthand accounts remained frustratingly rare.
"It feels right," I said simply, taking a long drink from my water skin to buy myself time.
The truth was so much more complex than those three words could convey. How could I explain the way my entire world had reorganized itself around Kaelen's presence? The way I found myself listening for his breathing in the night, memorizing the cadence of his voice, cataloging every expression that crossed his features? How could I describe the bone-deep satisfaction that came from kneeling at his feet, or the way his approval felt more valuable than any military commendation I'd ever received?
"Right how?" Alyon pressed, genuine curiosity overriding his usual caution. "I mean, cross-Order bonds are supposed to be challenging. Cultural differences, competing priorities..."
I thought of the way Kaelen had cleaned me so tenderly after our joining, the reverence in his touch ashe'd seen to my comfort. The way he'd guided me to our shared chambers with such careful possession, as if I were something precious he'd been entrusted to protect.
