"But that's not all this has been," I said, reaching for his hand with desperate fingers. "Tell me that's not all."
His smile was beautiful and terrible, full of the kind of love that knew its own impermanence. "No, Rion. That's not all. Not even close."
He shifted position, reaching for something I hadn't noticed in the shadows beside him. When he turned back, moonlight caught on silk the color of deep water, fabric so fine it seemed woven from starlight itself.
"This is for you," he said, holding it out like an offering to the gods. "Not for the soldier you'll become, but for the man you are. The one who kneels beside my chair and finds peace in serving. The one who trusts me with his pleasure and his pain alike."
I stared at the silk, my mind struggling to process what I was seeing. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a length of exquisite fabric—beautiful but simple, the kind of thing that might be tucked away as a keepsake or memento.
But as Kaelen's hands moved with practiced grace, the silk revealed its true nature. It unfolded, transformed, became something that made my breath catch in my throat and heat flood my veins in equal measure.
A collar.
Soft as a whisper, light as breath, designed to circle a throat with the weight of devotion rather than restraint. The silk was layered cunningly, creating structure without bulk, substance without obvious display. To unknowing eyes, it would appear to be nothing more than a simple neckcloth. But to those who understood its true purpose...
"It's beautiful," I breathed, though the word felt inadequate for something that seemed to pulse with its own inner light. "Kaelen, I can't?—"
"You can," he said firmly, his hands already moving to arrange the collar between us. "You will. Because tonight, away from duty and expectation and the countdown of days remaining, I want to see you wear something that proclaims exactly what you are to me."
The silk seemed to call to something deep in my chest, some part of me that had always yearned for this kind of claiming. Not the harsh dominance I'd been taught to expect, but something infinitely more precious—the gentle ownership of someone who saw my submission as a gift rather than a defeat.
"Put it on me," I whispered, the words torn from some place I'd kept carefully guarded until now.
Kaelen's eyes flashed with something primitive and possessive, storm-grey depths darkening to the color of midnight. "Are you certain?"
"I've never been more certain of anything in my life."
I knelt before him in the soft grass, tilting my head back to bare my throat to the moonlight. The position felt sacred, profound, like the moment before taking final vows or stepping across a threshold that could never be uncrossed. Around us, the forest held its breath, as though even the trees understood the significance of what was passing between us.
Kaelen rose to his knees as well, the collar draped across his palms like an offering to the divine.When he leaned forward to place it around my throat, his breath ghosted warm against my skin, raising goosebumps that had nothing to do with the cool night air.
The silk settled against my neck like a whisper, so light I might have imagined it if not for the profound shift that occurred the moment it touched my skin. Everything changed—the way I held myself, the way I breathed, the way the bond between us seemed to deepen and intensify until it felt like molten gold poured directly into my veins.
"Perfect," Kaelen breathed, his hands lingering at the edges of the collar as though reluctant to break contact. "You're absolutely perfect, Rion."
I could feel the truth of his words in the way he looked at me—not just with desire, though that burned bright in his eyes, but with something deeper. Recognition. Completion. The profound satisfaction of seeing something precious displayed exactly as it was meant to be.
"How does it feel?" he asked, though I suspected he could sense my response through the bond that linked us.
"Like it was always meant to be,” I whispered, one hand rising instinctively to touch the silk at my throat.
The collar seemed to pulse with warmth at my words, as though it too recognized the rightness of this moment. But more than that, it felt like a promise—a visible symbol of everything we had discovered together, everything that would remain true regardless of how many days we had left.
Kaelen's control, already strained by the sight of me wearing his gift, finally cracked completely.
"Undress," he commanded, his voice rough with need that made my skin prickle with anticipation. "I want to see all of you. Want to touch every inch while you wear my collar."
I obeyed with hands that trembled only slightly, shedding my robes until I knelt naked in the moonlight save for the silk that circled my throat like a band of starlight. The night air was cool against my heated skin, but Kaelen's gaze burned hotter than any flame, cataloging every line and curve with the intensity of someone memorizing something precious.
"Beautiful," he murmured, beginning to shed his own clothing with movements made urgent by desire. "So beautiful it makes my chest ache."
When he too was bare to the night, we came together with the desperate hunger of souls who knew their time was measured. His mouth found mine in a kiss that tasted of jasmine and moonlight and the salt of tears I hadn't realized I was shedding.
"Don't think about tomorrow," he whispered against my lips, seeming to sense the melancholy that threatened to overwhelm the desire building between us. "Don't think about days remaining or duties calling. Just be here with me. Be mine."
His hands moved over my body with reverent attention, mapping territories he'd claimed a dozen times before but somehow discovering them anew. When his fingers brushed the collar at my throat, we both shivered with the recognition of what it meant—not just marking, but belonging. Not just submission, but love freely given and gratefully received.
"Touch me," he commanded, guiding my hands to his chest, his stomach, the hard length of his arousal that spoke of desire as desperate as my own. "Show me how well you've learned to please me."
