“Well?” She grins. “Did I win?”
Her hair sits on top of the water in loose, soaked waves that gently waft back and forth, her chin brushing the pool and her body hidden beneath it as she treads water easily.
I run a hand down my face as her smile flickers. “Callan?”
My voice rasps. “Consider me conquered.”
In every way.
Swallowing, I force my lips into another smirk, and flick water at her. “Another round.”
All of the rounds. All night, as long as this time with her does not have to end.
When she finally tires, long after my bones have started to ache, we pull ourselves out and lay back against the heated stone, our sodden clothes soaking the ground beneath us. Our arms press together as we stare up at the ceiling.
“I needed this.” The wonder in her words has my heart tightening into a fist, squeezing as I turn my head to look at her. “To not have to think of anything but this.”
My hand brushes hers. It’s too easy to steal it, to link my smallest finger with hers, chasing even that small connection. “I’m glad the water helped.”
Selene’s finger curls around mine. “It was not the water.”
Warmth sweeps over my entire body, bursts of light dancing across my vision as I fight to breathe against the weightlessness that overcomes me at her quiet words.
“I was thinking,” she murmurs softly. Her head turns to mine, both of us staring at each other. “About what happens after.”
“After?” I stare at her like a fool, still caught on her earlier words.
She bites down into her lower lip, leaving an indent in the skin. “What happens if we can fix this? If I can fix the Never?”
“What would you like to happen?”
Those eyes return to the ceiling. “I don’t know. I’ve never let myself think about the future. Not really. I knew… I knew I wanted to come home, even if it was for the last time. I made a promise that I would. But this is not my home anymore.”
I roll onto my side. Selene does the same, the two of us facing each other in the low glow of the adralite. “Do you think it could be a home again?”
Resting my head on my arm, I reach for her damp hair with the other, pushing it away from her face. “I don’t believe Petyr will stay here forever. Once the Never is fixed, he’ll move on. Likely to Terrosa. His ambition is too big to allow him to stay here. Most of the court would follow, I’d imagine. They’ve made no bones of their feelings on the matter.”
Her eyes lower. “And what would you do?”
“That depends,” I say carefully. So very careful, in this moment that feels like glass between clumsy hands. Delicate, and easily broken.
Selene searches my face. “On?”
On where you choose to go.
The rock in my throat seems to grow. “I think I might like to stay. To build a real life here. To try to fix some of what was broken, and to… to build something new. With your permission.”
She frowns. “You don’t need my permission.”
“Yes, I do.” I hold her gaze. “This is your home, Selene. What we have done, we cannot take back. So if I was to stay, and ifyouwished to stay—perhaps we could build that something together.”
“Together.” It sounds like a possibility on her lips as she tests the word. The corners of her lips lift. “I think I might like that.”
My heart thuds painfully as we watch each other. Selene’s gaze lowers to my lips, her eyes lidding and her lips parting.
Not daring to breathe, I lift myself, balancing on my arm to lean in—
The sound of footsteps is an unwelcome interloper. Selene jerks upright, almost smacking me in the forehead as she scrambles to her feet, shaking out her wings. My shirt is plastered against every gentle curve, and I feel my throat close as I look away.
