Just truth. Bare and simple.
Kaia’s breath catches. Her eyes go wide. Behind her, I feel Malrik go still.
“You don’t have to say it back,” I add quickly. “I just—I needed you to know. After everything. Afterthis. I couldn’t not say it.”
She stares at me for a long moment.
Then she kisses me.
Soft. Sweet. Full of everything she’s not quite ready to say out loud.
When she pulls back, her eyes are bright. “Finn Veylan.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“That’s not—”
“And I love you too.”
My heart stops.
Starts again.
Starts hammering so hard I’m pretty sure they can both feel it.
“You—”
“I love you,” she repeats. Steadier this time. Like she’s testing out how it feels. “I’ve loved you for a while, I think. I just didn’t—I wasn’t ready to—”
I kiss her before she can finish.
She laughs against my mouth, and it’s the best sound I’ve ever heard. Better than chaos. Better than magic. Better than anything.
Malrik’s hand squeezes mine, and when I look at him over her shoulder, he’s smiling. Actually smiling. The real kind, not the controlled almost-smiles he usually offers.
“Finally,” he murmurs.
“Yeah.” I grin back at him, probably looking completely unhinged. “Finally.”
We lie there in the soft light, tangled together on the mossy ledge, listening to the water lap at the stone below us.
The blank hall waits in the shadows across the cavern. Callum is still unconscious in the berserker hall. Tomorrow we’ll have to deal with Seren, with Lira, with whatever trap Alekir has laid for us.
But right now, in this moment, none of that matters.
Right now there’s just this:
Kaia’s heartbeat against my chest.
Malrik’s hand in mine.
A bond that finally feels complete.
And for the first time in my life, the chaos inside me is perfectly, impossibly still.
Chapter 29
