“Don’t protect me from the truth,” she whispered. “I won’t break.”
Gods.
She thought I was protectingherfrom the truth. No. I’d been too busy protectingmyself.
“I’m not afraid of us,” she said. “I never have been.”
That hit me harder than any blow. A tremor ran through me, every muscle tightening as though bracing for impact.
“You don’t understand what you’re asking for,” I murmured, my fingersachingto touch her. Myheartaching to touch her.
Her hand slid from my cheek to my jaw, her fingers warmagainst my skin.
“Then explain it to me.”
“I could lose myself,” I rasped.
“Not this again,” she laughed, shocking me as her eyes softened. “You didn’t tonight.”
I stared at her—really stared—taking in the exhaustion lining her face, the faint shimmer of glamor residue on her skin and the bruises blooming along her arms and collarbone. She should’ve been terrified of everything.
In fact, she should’ve been curled in on herself. If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t even be able to look at me right now.Not after everything she’d been through tonight and everything I’d done to push her away.
But she wasn’t. Instead, my brave female was reaching for me. Shetrustedme.
“I thought I’d lose you,” I whispered.
“You didn’t,” she said in a low voice that touched my soul.
“Because we got there in time,” I explained, my voice on the verge of cracking with the intense emotions racing through me.
“You didn’t give up.” She leaned closer until her forehead nearly touched mine. “Because somewhere inside you, you knew I was yours to save.”
The wordyourswas my undoing. The bond surged—pure, bright and certain—wrapping through my ribs in a way that felt like breathing. Her breath brushed my lips.
My voice was a whisper of pain—pain that I’d inflicted on us all by myself. “Hanna…”
She swallowed. “Savla, tell me. Tell me what this is.”
I should’ve pulled back and walked out, allowing her to rest. I should have doneanything else, but Ihadto lean in. Slowly, without thought or intention, I did the inevitable.
My female’s lashes lowered, and her fingers tightened in my hair.I didn’t remember moving—one moment there was spacebetween us, the next her lips brushed mine. It was barely a kiss. More like a collision of breath and trembling warmth.
She inhaled sharply, and then I kissed her for real.Soft at first, because she’d been hurt. Then deeper, because I’d almost lost her. Then with everything I’d been holding back since the moment I’d met her—fear, longing, desperation and devotion.
Her hand slid behind my neck and she whispered my name against my mouth like a plea. Ribbon croaked indignantly but neither of us stopped.
I took her mouth with a ferocity that I shouldn’t have. Not when she was injured, but I did anyway. I couldn’t stop myself.
When I finally pulled back, I rested my forehead against hers. Our breaths mingled together and her fingers curled around the back of my shirt as if I might disappear. I couldn’t look away from her and I didn’t even bother to try.
“Hanna,” I whispered, the truth clawing its way out of my chest before I could stop it, “I love you.”
Her breath hitched, and she stared up at me as if she wasdesperatelywishing she wasn’t dreaming. How could I be anything but honest with her when she was looking at me like that?
“I shouldn’t,” I said, voice breaking. “Gods, I shouldn’t. And I tried not to, I swear. I fought it. I fought myself. But when you were gone—when I felt you slipping—I realized it.”
Her hands framed my face, gentle and unshaking.
