Antonia told him what she offered and the bargain she made if she kept the empathy.
Pain filled his eyes.
“I have lived like this my entire life, Philip. I can continue to do so.”
“Just know that you always have my arm if it ever becomes too loud.”
She smiled weakly. “Thank you.” However, what she wanted to ask was would she have it as a friend only, or something more.
Petra pressed a glass of wine into Antonia’s hand. “It may have taken weeks, but we found the answer in the end.”
“You did,” Antonia corrected and lifted her glass in celebration before she took a sip. Had Petra not decided to read the tomes of mythology, Philip likely would have turned tonight.
“You are exhausted,” Philip whispered in her ear.
“How can you not be?” she asked.
“I think it comes from the elation that I will never be a wolf again.”
She was truly happy for him, but her entire being was exhausted. One would think that she hadn’t slept in days. Then again, these last nights had not been an easy sleep because she had suffered nightmares. Had she not been holding Philip’s hand, she might not have slept at all.
And today had taken quite a bit out of her.
Antonia let out a sigh.
“Go to bed,” he said.
All she could do was manage a nod and set the glass aside.
As she climbed the stairs to her chamber, Antonia waited for the emptiness and her soul to begin to ache because she was too far away from Philip, but it did not. Nor had it after she’d made her sacrifice to Gaia.
When she reached her chamber, Antonia closed the door then prepared for bed before she crawled beneath the covers.
She would miss sleeping with Philip. It was a comfort that had nothing to do with the magic that connected them.
But this was for the best, she reminded herself, and hoped that she was correct and then closed her eyes, hoping for finally a peaceful night’s sleep.
She woke sometime later by a dip in the bed and became alarmed until she realized it was Philip.
“Why are you here?”
“I have become accustomed to sleeping with you.”
As had she. “That does not make it right. The spell is broken.”
He settled with his back to hers and reached out a hand. “They don’t need to know that, yet.”
Antonia smiled and slipped her hand into his.
“I am going to kiss you tomorrow,” Philip said into the darkness.
“You don’t want to kiss me now?” she asked.
“I do not dare kiss you in your bed, Antonia. That would be by far the most dangerous thing we have done.”
That made absolutely no sense to her. It was a brushing of lips, not a forbidden magical spell.
“I do not understand,” she finally said.
