The sooner my body remembered how to move, the better.
Even though hate had killed me, love had revived me.
Jethro had salvaged me and brought me back.
He’d done more than bring me back.
He’d given me a new home—inside him.
I’m alive because of him.
The Second Debt had taken everything from me.
But Jethro had given it back a hundred fold.
We ghosted to a stop outside my bedroom door. Jethro was the perfect suitor, walking me home after the strangest day of all. His hand came up to cup my cheek, a sigh escaping his lips. “I will tell you, but it’s not a simple matter of blurting it out.”
I turned my head and kissed his palm, never breaking eye contact. “Whatever it is, I’ll understand.”
He smiled sadly. “That’s the thing; you probably won’t. To tell you what I am means I’ll have to tell you everything. About the debts, the reasoning, my role.” He hung his head. “It’s a lot.”
I shuffled closer, wrapping my arms around his warm body. “Tomorrow. Meet me after breakfast and take me somewhere far from here. Tell me then.”
His nostrils flared. “You want to go off the grounds? Away from Hawksridge?”
The thought excited me. I didn’t want to go back to London or seek out my old life—not anymore, but it would be nice to go somewhere just the two of us.
A date.
“You can trust me, Jethro. You know that. I wouldn’t run if you took me somewhere public.”
A painful shadow crossed his face. “I know you wouldn’t. And that’s what fucking kills me.”
My heart stuttered. “Why?”
He slouched, pushing me against my door so my back kissed the wood and his lips kissed mine. The kiss was fleeting and soft, but the emotion behind it squeezed my chest with an agonising weight.
I didn’t know what the weight was. But the pressure built and built with words dying to leap free.
I.
Love.
You.
After what had just happened between us, it was all I could think about. I wanted to scream them. Blare them. Let him know that my caring for him wasn’t conditional or cruel.
I loved him. Forhim. For his soul.
His lips skated over mine again—the sweetest connection.
“Jethro,” I breathed. “I—I lo—”
He froze, slamming his fingers over my mouth. “Don’t say it.” Dropping his touch, he shook his head. “Don’t say it. Please, Nila.”
“But why shouldn’t I...when it’s the truth.” The weight on my heart grew deeper, stronger. I had no choice but to tell him. The words physically suffocated me, needing to be said. “You mean everything to me.” Placing my hand over his heart, I whispered. “Kite...I’m in love with you. It doesn’t come with conditions or commands. I can’t hate you for what you did today or what you might do in the future. I’m scared and lost and absolutely terrified that I’m doing the wrong thing by choosing you over my own life—but...I have no choice.”
He sucked in the sharpest breath. “You called me Kite.”
