“I know.” I lean down, pressing my forehead to hers. “I know, Trouble. Just—give me a second. Let me have this. Let me—”
I don’t finish the sentence.
I don’t need to.
She reaches up, threading her fingers through my hair, and pulls me down for a kiss so gentle it makes my chest ache.
And I stay exactly where I am—buried inside her, trembling with want, surrounded by the two people I love most in any realm—and let myselffeelit.
All of it.
Finally.
“Finn.” Kaia’s voice is soft against my mouth. “You don’t have to hold back.”
“I know. I just—”
“I want to feel you.” She shifts beneath me, and the movement sends sparks up my spine. “I want all of it. All of you.”
All of me.
Something in my chest cracks wide open at the words.
I start moving again.
Not slow this time. Not careful. Justhonest— desperate and messy and everything I’ve been holding back for months. She meets me thrust for thrust, her legs tightening around my hips, her nails leaving marks I’ll wear like badges of honor.
Malrik’s hand stays steady on my hip. Grounding me. Reminding me he’s here, that this is real, that I’m not dreaming this.
“That’s it,” he murmurs. “Let go, Finn.”
“I’m—” My voice breaks. “I can’t—”
“You can.” His mouth presses against my shoulder. “She wants it. Give it to her.”
Kaia’s hands find my face, pulling my gaze to hers. Violet eyes burning with something that looks like—
Love.
It looks like love.
“Finn.” My name on her lips like a prayer. “Stay with me.”
“Always,” I choke out. “I’m always—”
The pressure builds at the base of my spine. Everywhere we’re touching ignites. My chaos magic sparks and crackles across my skin, reaching for her, reaching forthem—
And then something shifts.
Not just pleasure. Something deeper. Something that hooks behind my ribs andpulls.
The bond.
I feel it snap into place like a key turning in a lock. Like a missing piece I didn’t know I was carrying suddenly finding where it belongs. It floods through me — warmth and want andher, Kaia, everywhere at once. In my blood. In my bones. In the chaos magic that’s always felt broken until this exact moment.
I cry out — her name, maybe, or just sound — and bury myself as deep as I can go.
Everything whites out.
