Cato snorts a laugh, but I only shake my head.
“This isn’t some sort of joke, Xen! You could get captured or killed, and then what the fuck would I do?”
He stares at me for a moment longer before he sets his jaw in that stubborn jut. “My mind is made up. Lock me back in that room if you want, but you know I could’ve gotten free any time I wanted. I’m here, so let me help.”
“Why?”
“Because I need you to remember I’m not the bad guy.”
Xeni’s words—mywords from that night on the roof—are whisper-quiet, but they hit me like he shouted.
His mask finally slips, and he pushes his fingers into his hair and tugs. My chest aches as I recognize the way he’s hurting himself to regain some control.
I charge over and drag him into the hallway. “That’s not why you’re doing this,” I say as I turn to face him, “and I didn’t mean that.”
“It is, and you did mean it,” he responds softly. “Ever since Ljómur was destroyed, I have been trying to figure out what the Fates were doing with me. What was the point of everything? Ronan and Cameron needed to find each other at that moment because they were the catalysts. They started all of this. Elas found August because that led Reyes to Nyx. All of that makes sense… it has purpose.”
He shifts, crossing his arms like he’s holding himself back. “But this? Me and you? I can’t figure out why the Fates gave me the best three years of my life just to take it away.”
My anger falters as he lets his shoulders fall against the wall, staring down at the hidden mark on his hip.
“Was it punishment for everything I did when I was younger? Atonement for the mates I sent to that place?”
“So you run into danger, and for what?” I demand. “What does that prove? That you’re reckless? Self-destructing? That you don’t care about your own fucking life? BecauseI do, Xen.”
Xeni is quiet as he shrugs and picks at the sleeve of his shirt, fingers worrying a worn thread. “For so long, everything about us has been angry or sad,” he says, “but it wasn’t always that way, Bash. We weregoodtogether. Being with you at Zaya’s reminded me of how happy we used to be… how happy we could be again.”
He bites at his lip for a moment, then meets my eyes. “You still love me,” he whispers, the words fragile, almost afraid to exist. “You can’t help it, and a piece of you hates it.”
My heart stutters, caught between the truth of it and the terror of admitting it. The undeniable fact hangs heavy between us, impossible to ignore.
Xeni’s lips curve into a sad smile. It’s not surrender, but recognition.
It’s the acknowledgment of every crack we’ve carved into each other.
He draws in another slow breath as he takes my hand and urges me closer. “These past few days haven’t changed the truth. Part of you still wants to drag me to those gates, shove me out, and tell me to leave for good… and that part? It’ll never be mine. Even if you came back to me, slid that ring on my finger again and swore I was yours, that little piece would never really belong to me.”
He hooks my neck and draws me in close. “Ineedyou to belong to me again.”
I close the distance between us, and the kiss is slow, deliberate, and achingly tender.
Not frantic or desperate.
No race to some fleeting escape, but the kind that savors every breath and brush of lips.
When he finally pulls away, his hand slides to cradle my face, thumb tracing my bottom lip with reverence that cracks something deep inside my chest.
“I won’t settle for a love that’s less,” he whispers. “Not from you. Not after what we were.”
“I can try,” I plead, hating how the corners of his mouth soften into that quiet acceptance.
He sees the truth in me… the one I haven’t even admitted to myself yet.
“We’re talking instead of fighting now,” I continue, “and we had fun that night. We can give this time… wehavetime, Xen. You just found me.”
“You and I both know how well you hold a grudge.”
My half-smile wobbles as I lay my head on his shoulder. He pulls me into a hug, his palms stroking up and down my back.
