Kauri and I stood near the altar, the echo of battle fading, the intensity of the binding settling into a profound, shared stillness. My heart hammered against my ribs, not from fear, but from the sheer, overwhelming reality of what had just happened. I looked down at my hand, still resting atop his on the altar stone. A faint warmth radiated from the point of contact, a steady current flowing between us.
He gently disentangled his hand, turning to face me fully. His eyes, clear and deep, held a universe of relief, awe, andsomething else—a tenderness that made my breath catch. He reached out, his fingers lightly brushing a strand of hair from my face, then tracing the curve of my jaw. “Are you harmed?” His voice was low, resonant with concern.
“No,” I managed, my voice husky. “Just… processing.” I scanned him, noting the faint silver mark on his shoulder where the wound had been. My gaze caught a small scrape on his forearm, likely from our scramble to the altar. Without thinking, I reached out, my fingers tracing the abrasion. “You?”
He looked down at the scrape as if noticing it for the first time, then back at me, a soft smile touching his lips. “Nothing the Vow cannot mend.” His hand covered mine where it rested on his arm, his touch sending a jolt of warmth straight through me.
The implication of his words hung in the air. “Does that mean… for me too?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “Will it mend me like it mends you?”
His smile softened, tinged with an ancient sadness that I now understood. “The Vow is part of you now. It will guard you, heal you, and keep you safe from harm,” he said, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. “For all the days of your life.”
For all the days ofmylife. The words were a promise of protection, not of immortality. I would live out my natural span, and he would live on. The knowledge should have been devastating, but looking into his eyes, I felt only a profound, grounding peace. We had our time. An accepted intimacy, both startlingly new and incredibly ancient, drew me to him. We stood like that for a long moment, simply breathing each other in, letting the peace of the restored sanctuary settle over us.
Finally, he led me away from the altar, toward the edge of the shimmering pool. We sat on the mossy bank, the cool water reflecting the Heartwood’s steady glow.
“The binding,” he began, his gaze distant for a moment as if accessing millennia of knowledge. “It is complete. Irrevocable.” He turned back to me, his expression serious but gentle. “It is more than shared power, Sienna. It is a joining of spirit, of life force, woven into the very fabric of this place. My life, its life…” he gestured encompassingly, “… is now intrinsically tied to yours. And yours to ours.”
I nodded slowly, feeling the truth of his words resonate within me. It wasn’t a chain, but a connection, like finding a missing piece of myself I hadn’t known was lost. “So, what does that mean? Practically?” The question felt absurdly mundane after battling shadow tendrils and sealing ancient Vows, but it hung in the air, unavoidable.
He considered this. “Your presence strengthens the sanctuary and anchors my power. Your spirit harmonizes with the life here.” He paused. “The Vow does not demand your constant physical presence to sustain itself, not now that it is whole. The connection transcends distance. You are free to leave the borders of this domain.”
Relief warred with a strange pang of disappointment. Leave? After everything? “But…”
“But the bond remains,” he finished softly, understanding my unspoken turmoil. “You will feel its pull, its song, wherever you are. And this place,Iwill feel your absence.”
The implications crashed down. My life back home. My job, my apartment, my friends, how could I possibly explain any of this? How could I just reappear after vanishing? A sudden image flashed of worried faces, search parties combing the forest where I’d first stumbled into this hidden world. They would be looking for me.
“People will be searching for me,” I murmured, voicing the thought aloud. “I can’t just stay here forever, hidden away. Can I?” The question hung between us, heavy with unspokencomplexities. Could I live two lives? Could I abandon one for the other?
Kauri’s hand found mine again, his grip firm, reassuring. “We will face that,” he said, his gaze steady. “The Vow is ancient, but it is not rigid. It is life, and life adapts.” He lifted my hand, pressing a gentle kiss to my knuckles. “What matters, Sienna, is the choice you already made. You chose this. You choseme. Freely.”
Tears welled, blurring the gentle light. Tears of relief, of fear, of overwhelming love. “I did,” I whispered, my voice thick. “I choose you, Kauri. Now and… however this works.”
A slow smile spread across his face, reaching his eyes, making them glow with warmth. He drew me closer, wrapping his arms around me, holding me tightly against his chest. I leaned into him, burying my face against the unique texture of his skin, breathing in his scent of earth and something uniquely woody.
The tension of the battle, the fear, the uncertainty all melted away in the solid reality of his embrace, leaving only the profound peace of our connection. We stayed like that for a long time, simply holding each other, the silence filled only by the gentle sounds of the recovering sanctuary and the steady beat of our intertwined hearts.
He tilted my chin up, his gaze searching mine. The questions about the future, logistics, and worlds colliding still lingered at the back of my mind, but right now, they seemed distant, manageable. What mattered was this moment, this man, this bond.
“There is much we still need to understand,” he murmured, his lips brushing against my forehead. “About how our worlds will coexist.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I whispered back, my hands sliding up his chest, feeling the steady thrum of life beneath my palms. “Together.”
He lowered his head, and his lips met mine. The kiss was different again. Deeper than the sealing of the Vow, softer than the desperate passion that had first drawn us together. It was a kiss of profound intimacy, of shared souls settling into their rightful place. It spoke of millennia, of waiting, and the promise of countless tomorrows, however complicated they might be. It was the beginning, not just of survival, but of a shared life, rooted in ancient magic and blossoming with human love. The questions ofhowfaded as his kiss deepened, pulling me under, anchoring me securely in thenow, safe and cherished in his arms.
ELEMENTAL TOUCH
Sienna
The space between our hovering hands crackled, thick with unspoken energy. My skin prickled, every nerve ending alive, reaching across the gap toward the strange, beautiful being before me. The sight of him, stripped of his barky armor, revealing the sculpted form beneath, ignited something deep within me, a reckless heat that pushed past fear. Iwantedmore. Wanted to bridge that final distance, to feel the reality of him against my skin. Could we even? He looked so much more human now, yet still fundamentallyother. Would intimacy even be possible? The question was a frantic pulse beneath the rising tide of desire.
As if sensing the shift in me, the silent battle between apprehension and longing, Kauri closed the remaining distance. His transformed hand, still radiating that soft, silver-blue light, reached out not with the crushing force I might have once expected, but with infinite care. His fingertips brushed my shoulder, tracing the line where fabric met skin.
A shiver traced its way down my spine, sharp and electric. His touch wasn’t cold like stone, nor overly warm. It felt alive like touching the heartwood of an ancient tree, pulsing withslow, deep energy. It was nothing like anything I had ever felt before. Then, something else happened, something utterly strange and breathtaking.
From the point of contact on his arm, a slender, luminous vine, the color of moonlight on moss, unspooled itself. It moved with a gentle, deliberate life of its own, gliding under the loose fabric of my T-shirt. It slipped beneath the material, cool and smooth against my bare skin, pushing the worn cotton upward slightly. Goose bumps erupted in its wake as it traced a path over my ribs, impossibly gentle, impossibly intimate.
My breath hitched. A wave of heat washed through me, pooling low in my belly. This wasn’t just touch, it was a connection, elemental and profound. Hesitation evaporated, consumed by the overwhelming need to feelmore. My hands moved automatically, crossing in front of me to grab the hem of my top.
