Still no response. But he didn’t stop. He couldn’t.
‘I convinced myself I was incapable of love. That I was too damaged, broken. That I’d been discarded once, so I should protect myself.’ He swallowed. ‘It was easier than facing the truth—that loving you scared me more than anything in this world.’
She turned then, slowly. Her eyes were fire, storm and heartbreak. ‘You’re not broken,’ she said, her voice sharp with pain. ‘Stop saying that. Stopbelievingthat.’
His heart crumpled at the raw conviction in her words. ‘Maybe I’m not, not any more, because you saw something in me when I saw nothing. Because you gave. And gave. I witnessed a warm, generous, loving woman who would go to the ends of the earth for the lucky ones who called her theirs. And I—I rejected you, every time, like a fool.’
‘So you came to tell me you’ve seen the light. Now what?’
He edged closer, pulse thundering in his ears and true terror gripping his insides. Because that agony he heard in her voice—he’d caused it.
‘I came back thinking I’d lost you. That I’d finally succeeded in destroying the only good thing in my life. And the truth is—I don’t want to live without you, Vayle. I can’t. I couldn’t even breathe on that plane on the way home. It felt like I was being flayed open, cell by cell.’
A sound escaped her—choked, disbelieving.
He pressed a fist to his chest. ‘This? This pain? I recognise it now. It’s love. It’syou.And, if you give me a second chance, I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life earning every breath you give me. Every smile. Every piece of your trust I’ve shattered.’
He dared to touch her—just a fingertip to her wrist. She didn’t pull away. She said nothing for an eternity. But her eyes…thee mou, her breathtaking eyes created his every vision of heaven.
‘I should make you wait. Make you suffer. But I just don’t have it in me,agapu,’ she murmured.
His heart tumbled over. He ventured another inch closer and touched her back. Felt her sway towards him. ‘S’agapo, Vayle. You are my air, my gravity, my home. Forgive me. I’m a fool for waiting this long to grasp the gift you were giving me. I love you. Please forgive me.’
For a moment, the sky itself seemed to hold its breath. Then, with a soft, broken cry, she twisted and launched herself into his arms. He caught her like a drowning man clutching his final hope, this treasure he’d come so close to losing. She fitted against him as she always had—effortlessly, like destiny.
‘I love you too, Nelios!’
His heart soared, so high and free he wondered if his feet would ever touch the ground. God, he hoped not. He held her tighter and crushed her close, his own tears hot against her skin.
‘Thank you. Thank you for still having space in your heart for me.’
She pulled back just far enough to cup his face. ‘It was always yours, even when it hurt. Even when you walked away.’
‘My love, can I coax you away from the edge now, please?’ he breathed reverently, trembling. ‘My heart really can’t take it and I very much need to kiss you.’
Her laugh was husky and tear-tinged as she nodded.
He stood and scooped her into his arms, cradling her tenderly. Slowly, carefully, he brought her away from the cliff, from the precipice of everything they’d nearly lost.
Then, right there beneath the sky, in his favourite place on earth, and in the arms of the purest love he didn’t deserve but fully intended to keep, he kissed Vayle. It was long, slow and deep until every chasm filled and overflowed.
She was flushed and her eyes glittered beautifully when he lifted his head. ‘Can we go home now? We have a contract to rip up and forever to plan, I believe.’
He brushed his thumb over her cheek. ‘We do. I should never have left you, my heart, even for a day. Now I’m back, I’ll spend every moment proving I’m worthy of you.’
When she burrowed into his neck, Nelios held her tighter.
He wasn’t falling any more. He was home.
EPILOGUE
SOFIAAGNESPETRALISwas born at home on Apeiron to a mildly terrified father who then broke into reams of smiles, showering kisses the second he held his daughter.
And for the next three nights he straight refused to leave the nursery, completely in love and in awe as he experienced every small gesture his baby girl made.
Vayle had yearned to see what a besotted Nelios would look like in those testing weeks before they’d confessed their love. Now it was almost overwhelming.
Not that she took it for granted. They’d been through fire and anguish to get to where they were today. Seeing Nelios and Agnes finally at peace with one another was heart-warming.Healing.
