Even after the frost has stopped spreading and the room has gone quiet—I can’t stop.
Her lips.
Her jaw.
The mark on her throat that pulses with our bond.
“Andrik,” she whispers against my mouth. “I can’t breathe.”
I pull back immediately, panic flooding through my gut. “Did I hurt you? Was I too?—”
“No,” She coughs. “I just meant... I need to catch my breath.”
I rest my forehead against hers, trying to steady myself. My heart is still racing. My body is still humming with the aftershocks of what she just did to me.
What shegaveme.
“Saelûn.” I pull back just enough to meet her eyes. “You unmake me. Every time you touch me. Every time youlookat me.”
She bites her lip, and I can see the question forming before she asks it.
“The shame,” she says quietly. “Is it.. are you still?—”
“No.” I cut her off. “I’m not ashamed. Not anymore.”
“But you came so fast?—”
“Because you destroyed me.” I brush her hair back from her face. “After thousands of years of control, someone touched me, not to reap pleasure, but to give it. And I had nothing left. No walls. No defenses.”
I press a kiss to her temple.
“I know now that’s not a weakness, lúmina’ka. It’s surrender. To you. Only ever to you.”
Her chin wobbles.
“I’m sorry I made you think—” My voice shakes. “I’m sorry I pulled away. That I made you doubt me.”
“I know. It was just a misunderstanding. ”
I catch her hand, trailing a kiss from her palm to her wrist. I breathe in the honeysuckle scent clinging to her skin, feeling her pulse flutter under my lips.
“Let me clean you up,” I murmur. “You must be so exhausted.”
“I’m okay. I don’t ever want to move again.” She whines dramatically.
I smirk, glancing down at the corner of her mouth where pale blue shimmer still lingers.
I carry her to the bathroom and run warm water in the basin. She watches me through half-lidded eyes as I gently wipe her mouth—it feels wrong, like I'm erasing evidence of something special. When I lean forward to kiss her forehead, something snaps.
She still smells like something unclaimed, and I can’t have that.
“Saelûn,” I rasp, pressing my face into her neck. “I have to scent you.”
Her face scrunches up,
“You have to what?” she asks in confusion.
“I need to cover you,” I whisper. My scent thickens, rising around us. “So no part of you remembers anything but me.”
