My hands moved with the skill he'd taught me over three weeks of patient instruction, reading the map of his pleasure through touch and the subtle signs that spoke of mounting need. I knew exactly how to make his breath catch, exactly where to apply pressure to make him gasp my name like a prayer.
The collar seemed to intensify every sensation, making me hyperaware of his responses while simultaneously grounding me in my own submission. I was his in this moment—completely, irrevocably, proudly. Whatever tomorrow might bring, tonight I belonged to him as surely as the stars belonged to the sky.
When release finally claimed us both, it was with the force of recognition rather than mere pleasure—two souls acknowledging what they would soon be forced to release, storing up memories bright enough to sustain them through whatever darkness lay ahead.
We collapsed together in the soft grass, limbs tangled, the collar a silk whisper against my throat as Kaelen gathered me close. Around us, the forest gradually came back to life—insects resuming their chorus, leaves rustling with returning wind, the stream continuing its ancient song.
Seven days.
But for now, in this sacred grove with his gift warmagainst my skin, I let myself believe that some things were stronger than time, deeper than duty, more enduring than the careful structures that governed mortal lives.
I let myself believe in forever, even as forever slipped like water through my desperate fingers.
Chapter
Thirteen
KAELEN
The Temple of Elyon rose before me like a poem carved in stone, its pale columns reaching toward the morning sky with the same yearning that had been gnawing at my chest for days. I paused at the threshold, one hand resting against the sun-warmed marble, gathering courage for a conversation I wasn't certain I should be having.
Inside, the air shimmered with golden light and the soft murmur of prayer. The temple seemed to breathe with its own rhythm, ancient and patient, welcoming all who sought the god's blessing on matters of the heart. How fitting that I should come here, where love was celebrated rather than dissected, where passion was honored rather than conquered.
I found him in the eastern alcove, kneeling before a small shrine where fresh flowers had been arranged with careful devotion. Callis, the young man whose story had become legend among those who whispered of bonds that transcended their boundaries. His darkhair caught the light filtering through stained glass, and there was something in his posture that spoke of hard-won peace.
"Forgive the intrusion," I said softly, not wanting to shatter whatever communion he'd found in this sacred space.
He turned, and I was struck by the transformation in his features. When I'd first glimpsed him in the scriptorium weeks ago, he'd carried the careful reserve of someone still learning his place. Now his face held the serene confidence of someone who had found exactly where he belonged.
"Scholar Kaelen," he said with a smile that held genuine warmth. "No intrusion at all. Elyon's temple welcomes all seekers."
"I'm not certain I qualify as a seeker," I admitted, settling beside him on the worn stone floor. "More like someone lost in his own certainty."
Callis's eyes studied my face with careful attention. "The bond troubles you."
It wasn't a question. Perhaps the strain showed more clearly than I'd hoped, or perhaps anyone who had walked a similar path could recognize the signs.
"Not the bond itself," I said, choosing my words with the precision of someone who'd spent sleepless hours examining the same thoughts from every angle. "The bond is... extraordinary. More than I ever imagined possible."
"But?"
I stared at the painted ceiling above us, where scenes of Elyon's great love played out in brilliantcolors. The god's face was serene, beautiful, unmarked by the kind of desperate longing that had been consuming me for days.
"But I find myself questioning everything I thought I knew about myself. About what I want. About what I can live with and what I cannot." The words felt like confession, raw and honest in this place dedicated to truth. "My Order values intellectual clarity above all else. Emotional discipline. The ability to form connections without losing oneself in them."
"And you've lost yourself?"
"Completely." The admission escaped before I could soften it, and I heard the desperate edge in my own voice. "I wake thinking of him. I spend my days counting hours until I can return to our chambers. When he kneels beside my chair or looks at me with those trusting eyes, I feel something so profound it terrifies me."
Callis was quiet for a long moment, his gaze turning toward the shrine where candles flickered like tiny stars. "Love often feels like terror when we first encounter it. Especially when it doesn't match what we expected to find."
"How do you bear it?" I asked. "The intensity? The way it threatens to consume everything else you thought mattered?"
His smile was soft, touched with the kind of understanding that came only from experience. "I stopped trying to bear it and started trying to honor it instead. There's a difference."
"My mentors would say I've allowed physicaldesire to cloud my judgment. That I'm confusing temporary infatuation with something deeper."
"And what do you say?"
