I desperately wanted to tell him. To unload the angelic prophecy burdening my shoulders. What was I meant to unite? What was happening with the wild creatures and the queen’s hunt for me? Why did this emblem on my neck heat with my pulse?
I wanted to spill every theory between us so he could help me parse out the truth.
But Damien’s warning throttled me as the words rose, so I said, “The journey ahead.”
“We’ll be back in time for Daminius festivities if we ride fast.”
Daminius. My deadline to earn those final votes on my title.
“And what if I don’t know how this journey ends?” The full moon outside the window burned out the stars as it faded toward dawn, casting shadows across Tol’s face, but I still caught the way his eyes flicked over my expression, picking apart every twitch of my brow and roll of my lips until he knew what I truly meant.
He shifted closer, our foreheads nearly touching. “Listen to me,” he whispered, breath hot against my lips. I was trapped in his gaze, captured by his voice. “You don’t need to know what comes next, Ophelia. Whatever it is—I’m here for you. Whatever waits in that cursed fate, we will face it together. From now until the end of time, I am infinitely yours.”
I nodded, my eyes falling closed against the emotion welling within them. “I’m scared.” I whispered the two words I hadn’t wanted to admit, let them hover between us, a secret I only wanted him to hold.
“Of what?”
I was certain he knew, but he wanted me to say it.
“Of failing everyone relying on me.” Of failing him.
Because if I could not give him what he wanted, if I could not be what he deserved, I didn’t know what would happen.
Slowly, he lifted his hand to my hip. When he dragged his fingers over my nightgown, heat rivaling the Spirit Volcano flooded my core. I almost squirmed against it, but I didn’t want to move, afraid of shattering this moment.
“You could never fail your people. You care deeply and are willing to fight for them. With that guiding your heart, they will always be safe with you.” His thumb dragged over my hip, scorching a line through the silk.
“I’m worried about more than them.” Being Revered was the fact I was least afraid of. Moments of doubt in myself washed in like the tide, but deep down I knew the power lay within me.
“What are you afraid of, then?”
“Breaking the things I treasure most,” I confessed, biting my bottom lip.
Tol’s lashes drooped across his cheeks as he tracked the motion. He pushed onto one elbow, dragging his hand slowly from my hip up my body, watching its path like he had to commit every inch to memory. He scorched a trail over my ribcage which expanded with my sharp inhale, across my collarbone, and came to rest against my cheek. Gently, his thumb tugged my lip from beneath my teeth and rested there. With the touch, my body both relaxed and coiled, heart fluttering with the way his eyes traced my face, so familiar yet so new. Raw adoration and protectiveness burned in his gaze.
“You will never break me.” He brushed his thumb over my lip. “There are many promises I cannot make in this world, but that’s one Iwillstake my life against. So long as you make decisions following your own heart,Iwill never break.”
Spirits bless him for always knowing what I was saying when I couldn’t find the words.
I wanted to melt into this moment. Into his warm embraces and comforting words. Into the place I was the safest in the world. Even when I was crying beneath a moonlit night, he was there to guard me.
It was because of that soul-deep feeling of safety that I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down to me.
It was a soft kiss, but it shot through my body, lightning igniting my nerves. His hand tightened around my hip, and his breath hitched as I shifted closer to him. My fingers tangled in his hair.
I didn’t think of Malakai or the ache that relationship still sent through me. In this moment, it was only Tolek.Infinitely.
When I opened my eyes, breathing heavy, the amber specks in his own were sparkling in the way I loved, wonder and lust staring back at me. He licked his bottom lip, as if savoring what I’d just done.
“Thank you, Tol.”
I didn’t know if it was for the kiss or the gentle touch, if it was for the reassurance or the reliability, the time or the temperament.
But I knew something that had been shattered within me sealed over in that moment.
For now that was enough.
Chapter Thirty-Six
