Finnian lifted his arm, hand upright, and slightly curled his fingers.
Bright green stems protruded up from the ash-covered soil. Their ends budded and sprouted white, trumpet-shaped blossoms.
“I apologize for destroying the grove,” he said quietly, shamefully.
“You were confused and simply trying to figure out what was real.”
“I will regrow it all. The passion flowers, the hawthorn, the rosemary. All of it.”
Cassian rotated his body towards Finnian.
Finnian stared at him, brow pinched. “What is it?”
He raised his hands from his pockets and slipped them over Finnian’s cheeks, slowly bridging the space between them until he met Finnian’s lips.
Cassian’s insides liquified. A quiver trembled through him and his knees nearly buckled from its delightful sensation.So long. It had been so long since he’d kissed Finnian.
His thumbs hooked at the base of Finnian’s jawline to deepen the kiss, injecting more of him into his bloodstream.
Finnian inhaled a breath through his nose and clasped both sides of Cassian’s waist, digging his fingertips into the material of his waistband.
The world, the shit, the last century and a half of their lives. It was all behind them.
In Cassian’s mind, he was back in Augustus with Finnian, walking the trail underneath old oaks, the dabbling of the streamlike a calming lullaby, with Finnian at his side, pointing at the fireflies.
That was his peace—Finnian and their lips on each other’s with nothing between them. No busy schedules, no conflicts, no warring. Just the two of them.
He held onto this as he glided a hand down the side of Finnian’s neck, settling his palm over Finnian’s pec. Divine power rushed through his blood into his fingertips.
Finnian’s eyes snapped open, and he shoved away from Cassian—too quickly for Cassian to snatch ahold of him.
A wild look of disapproval warped his features. “I will not let you do it.” He stepped back until there was a suitable length separating them, glaring with that beautiful scowl of his. “Not like this, Cassius. Give me time. I will craft a potion and break the curse myself.”
A sad smile curved over Cassian’s mouth, knowing that was precisely what Finnian would say. “You do not have that kind of time. The curse will only grow worse as the days pass. I am finished waiting for us to be whole again.”
“Not like this!” Finnian snarled, his eyes twisting furiously. “You absolve the curse,youwill pay the price. I refuse to let that happen.”
Cassian couldn’t help but think back on the many arguments of their past. Standing face-to-face this way, and all the times that Cassian thought he would explode from the aggravation Finnian riled within him. They had come so far. Their words had finally reached one another after years of opposition. And as Cassian reflected, he realized how none of the things they’d disagreed on really mattered in the grand scheme of it all.
What mattered was this: Finnian stood before him, bold and terrified, unsettled by the idea of his partner experiencing any more loss or heartache. Everything in between, their journeyto get to this moment, Cassian would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
“I love you too much,” Cassian said, “to allow my curse to weather your beautiful mind.”
Pain etched Finnian’s expression. It revealed itself in the tight line of his mouth, the fallen corners of his eyes. As quickly as it appeared, it flitted away.
He inclined his head, defiant, a challenge. “Then you will have to catch me first.”
Cassian expected nothing less from him. “You are bound to me through the potion that still entangles us, and from the moment you traded places with Naia, your soul belongs to me. There is nowhere you can run to.”
Finnian’s nostrils flared, and he clenched his hand into a fist in front of his stomach. “I will fight you then. I will not let you give up everything for me.”
Cassian drew in a breath and let it out in a ragged exhale. “Youareeverything. I am tired, Finny. I want a life with you. An uninterrupted life. I want to waste away in bed with you, live somewhere in the countryside, have a garden, take midnight strolls, and do whatever else we wish to do.”
“You adore your Land, the souls.”
“I do,” Cassian said. “But my time as its ruler has come to an end.”
The defiance fell from Finnian’s face. “If you do this, you will be giving up your title as a High God.”
