“I didn’t know.” The words come out ragged. “My whole life, my magic felt wrong. Like it was stretched too thin. Like it waslooking for something I couldn’t find. And now I find out—” His voice cracks. “I was holding ontoher. Since I was a kid. And I didn’t even know she existed.”
I kiss him.
I kiss him like I should have kissed him weeks ago. Like I should have kissed him in the hot spring. Like I’ve wanted to every time he made me laugh, every time he looked at me with those sharp green eyes, every time his chaos sparked against my shadows and made something in my chest ache.
Finn makes a sound against my mouth — broken and surprised andhungry— and then he’s kissing me back.
His hands fist in my shirt. His chaos magic flares wild, crackling against my skin. I feel it everywhere — in my chest, in my shadows, in the bond that hums between us.
He tastes like salt and desperation and something underneath that’s purelyFinn.
When we break apart, we’re both breathing hard.
His forehead drops against mine. His eyes are closed. His hands are still shaking, but he’s holding onto me like I’m the only solid thing in the world.
“Malrik.” My name comes out wrecked. “Malrik.”
“I’ve got you.” I wrap my arms around him. Pull him close. Let him bury his face in my neck. “I’ve got you.”
He breaks.
Not loudly. Not dramatically.
Just a shudder that runs through his whole body. A sob he tries to swallow. A collapse into my arms that says he’s been holding himself together for so long and he just… can’t anymore.
I hold him tighter.
“You held her,” I murmur against his hair. “Now let me hold you.”
His arms wrap around me. Desperate. Clinging.
“I didn’t know,” he whispers. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I just felt her and I didn’t even know it was her. I couldn’t let go and everyone said I was broken but Icouldn’t let go—”
“You weren’t broken.” I press a kiss to his temple. “You were saving her.”
“I was just a kid.”
“You were extraordinary.” I pull back just enough to look at him. Cup his face again. Make him meet my eyes. “Youareextraordinary. And you have no idea, do you? No idea what you did. What you’ve always been.”
His eyes are wet. His lip trembles.
“Malrik…”
“I love you.”
The words come out before I can stop them. Before I can strategize or calculate or control.
Finn stops breathing.
“I love Kaia,” I continue, steady now. Certain. “And I love you. Not the same. Not less. Just… yours.”
He stares at me. Those green eyes wide and wet andshattered.
“You can’t just— you can’t justsaythat—”
“I can. I did.” I brush my thumb across his cheek again. “And I’ll say it again, as many times as you need to hear it.”
He laughs. Broken and wet and disbelieving.
