“Didn’t ask you to stop.”
She laughed, and he swallowed the sound, and everything else faded into warmth and closeness and the kind of connection that had nothing to do with spells.
Morning light creptthrough the curtains, soft and golden, painting stripes across the bed.
Cassie woke slowly, awareness seeping in like honey—the warmth beside her, the arm draped over her waist, the steady rhythm of breathing that wasn’t her own.
He stayed.
Not because he had to. Not because of magic or binding or proximity. Just because he wanted to.
She turned her head carefully, not wanting to wake him, and found gray eyes already watching her. Soft with sleep and something warmer.
“Morning,” she whispered.
“Morning.” His voice was rough in that early-dawn way that made her want to pull him back under the covers and stay there forever. “How long have you been awake?”
“Just a minute. You?”
“Long enough to count three spiders on your ceiling and decide not to mention them.”
She laughed, burying her face in his shoulder. “Welcome to my life.”
“Wouldn’t trade it.”
They lay there for a while, tangled together in the morning light, while the house hummed contentedly around them. The walls had settled overnight into a steady, peaceful rose—no more cycling, no more chaos. Just warmth.
“So,” Liam said eventually. “What happens now?”
“Now?” She traced patterns on his chest, marveling at the simple reality of being able to touch him. “Now we figure it out. Together. Without magical intervention.”
“The binding’s gone.”
“Completely.”
“And you still want me here.”
“I want you here.” She pushed up on one elbow to look at him properly. “Not as a handyman. Not as a magical side effect. Just as… you.”
The smile that spread across his face was the best thing she’d ever seen.
“Then I’ll stay.”
“Yeah?”
“Aye. I’ll stay.”
She kissed him—soft, unhurried, tasting like morning and new beginnings—and felt her magicspark happily in response. A gentle pulse of gold light that spread through the room, making the dust motes dance.
“You’re doing it again,” Liam said against her mouth.
“I know.”
“Happy magic?”
“The happiest.”
He laughed, pulling her closer, and the light intensified—warm and steady and absolutely refusing to be subtle about anything.
