I’m aware of her arms around me. Malrik’s hand on my back. The pulse of the bond threading through all of us, connecting what was always meant to be connected.
When I come back to myself, I’m shaking.
Not the fun kind of shaking. The kind that says something fundamental just rearranged itself inside me and I’m still catching up.
“Finn?” Kaia’s voice is worried. Her hands stroke through my hair. “Finn, are you—”
“I felt it.” The words come out raw. Wrecked. “The bond. I felt it—”
“I know.” She presses her forehead to mine. “I felt it too.”
“It’s real.” I’m not sure why I’m saying it. Maybe because I need to hear it out loud. “We’re actually—”
“Real,” she confirms. “Finally real.”
I kiss her. Slow and deep and completely different from everything that came before. This isn’t desperate. Isn’t frantic.
This isours.
When I finally pull back, I realize I’m still trembling. Still inside her. Still trying to process the enormity of what just happened.
Malrik’s hand traces soothing patterns on my back. Patient. Present.
“You okay?” he asks quietly.
“I don’t know.” I laugh, and it comes out wet. “I think I just felt my soul rearrange itself. Is that normal? That doesn’t feel normal.”
“It’s normal.” His voice is warm. “It happened with each of us.”
“Well, someone could have warned me.”
“Would you have believed us?”
“…No. Probably not.”
Kaia laughs softly beneath me, and the vibration of it travels through the bond — throughourbond — and settles somewhere deep in my chest.
I ease out of her carefully, already mourning the loss of connection. She makes a small sound, her fingers tightening on my shoulders.
“Sorry,” I murmur. “I just—”
“Don’t apologize.” She pulls me down beside her on the moss, curling into my side immediately. “Stay close.”
“Wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”
Malrik pulls himself up onto the ledge on her other side. The moss is big enough for all three of us, barely, and we end up tangled together — Kaia in the middle, me pressed against her front, Malrik solid and warm at her back.
“What about you?” Kaia asks, twisting to look at him. “We didn’t—”
“Shh.” He presses a kiss to her shoulder. “Tonight wasn’t about me.”
“But—”
“Kaia.” His voice is gentle but firm. “I got exactly what I wanted.”
She frowns. “Watching us?”
“Being here.” He meets my eyes over her shoulder, and something passes between us. Understanding. Gratitude. A promise for another time. “Being part of it. Seeing you two finally stop dancing around each other.”
