"Yes," Vale agreed, his silver eyes soft with trust, his head tilting slightly as he studied me. "We trust you."
Riven just nodded, his scarred jaw tight, his golden eyes never leaving my face, intensity radiating from every line of his body.
Kaelan studied me for a long moment, his dark gaze searching. Then: "What do you need us to do?"
I took a breath. Let it out slowly.
"I need you to stay still," I said, swimming toward him, my pulse thundering in my ears. "And I need you to let me touch your hair."
The effect was immediate.
Kaelan went rigid, his dark eyes widening until I could see white around the edges. Behind me, I heard Riven's sharp intake of breath and the small, wounded sound that Thane made. Vale's hand flew to his mouth, his silver eyes filling with tears.
"Lily," Kaelan breathed, his voice cracking on my name like it was too fragile to hold. "Do you understand what you're asking?"
"Yes," I said, and I'd never been more certain of anything in my life. "You've braided my hair. You've put your shells and pearls and jewels in it. You've marked me as yours." I reached up, my fingers hovering just above his ink-black strands. "Now I want to mark you as mine."
"You don't have—" His voice broke. He had to stop, swallow, try again. "You don't have anything to weave in. No shells. No treasures."
I smiled, and it felt like the bravest thing I'd ever done.
"Yes, I do," I said, and I reached down to the hem of my shirt—the same shirt I'd been wearing for months, the same fabric that had seen me through eight months of running and hiding and surviving.
I tore a strip from it. The sound was loud in the quiet water.
"I have this," I said, holding up the fabric, letting it drift between us like a promise. "I have me. Is that enough?"
The sound Kaelan made wasn't human. It was raw and broken and desperate, a thousand years of loneliness cracking open all at once. "It's everything," he choked out, his hands shaking as they gripped my waist. "You're everything. You've always been everything."
"Then let me claim you," I said softly, cupping his face with my free hand. "Let me make you mine." He nodded, unable to speak, his whole body trembling. And he bowed his head.
My fingers were clumsy at first.
I'd never braided underwater before, and his hair was different from mine—thicker, heavier, with a texture that seemed to absorb the bioluminescent light around us. But I figured it out. Separated the strands. Began to weave.
The fabric from my shirt was rough against my fingers, worn by months of use. I worked it into the braid carefully, threading it through the black strands like a promise. Like a vow.
Mine, I thought with every pass of my fingers.You're mine now. I'm keeping you.
Kaelan was trembling. This massive, ancient, powerful creature—trembling under my hands like I was the one with all the power. His eyes were closed, his breathing ragged, his claws digging into his own palms hard enough to draw blood.
"Lily," he whispered, and my name sounded like a prayer on his lips. "Lily, I can't—I don't?—"
"Shh," I murmured, smoothing my hands through his hair, feeling him shudder at the touch. "I've got you. Just let me do this."
When I finished, I tied off the braid with another strip of fabric and let it fall against his back. It wasn't as elegant as the braids they'd put in my hair—no shells, no pearls, no jewels. Just rough fabric and clumsy weaving and everything I had to give.
But when Kaelan opened his eyes and looked at me, there were tears streaming down his face.
"You claimed me," he said, his voice wrecked, barely recognizable. "You actually claimed me."
"I did," I confirmed, cupping his face in my hands and wiping his tears with my thumbs. "You're mine now, Kaelan. Is that okay?"
He kissed me instead of answering—deep and desperate and tasting of salt. When he finally pulled back, he was still crying, but something in his expression had shifted. Settled.
"More than okay," he managed, pressing his forehead to mine, his breath warm against my lips. "I've been yours since the moment you looked at me and didn't run. I just didn't know if you'd ever want to keep me."
"I want to keep you," I said fiercely, my fingers tightening on his face. "I want to keep all of you. Forever." A broken sound came from somewhere behind me. I turned to find Riven hovering there, his scarred face twisted with emotion, his golden eyes blazing with something desperate and raw.
