His muscular chest rose and fell as he breathed, and I rested one hand on the dark swirls marking his skin. “It is not ideal, but I am with you. I would rather be with you than anywhere else.”
I bit back the urge to tell him he hadn’t felt that way when he’d found himself tossed in a cell with me. Back then, his expression had betrayed his horror.
“That’s only because you don’t remember other places,” I breathed. “When you regain your memories, I’m sure there will be places you prefer. Like the warbird. I’m sure you would prefer that.”
“Maybe,” he said carefully, as if unsure which words to choose. “I’ve caught glimpses of it in my mind. I know it’s large. I know I’m used to vast spaces.”
“Which is the opposite of this.”
“It is.” He sighed. “But it isn’t the size of the space that feels so familiar and makes me want to stay. It is you.”
As unbelievable as it was, I felt the same way. There was something about being with Kolt that felt right in a way that it shouldn’t have. The Vandar I’d promised myself to despise should never feel as safe as he did. But everything about being with him worked and felt completely natural.
“It might be situational,” I said, my voice cracking. “All this might be situational.”
“Situational?”
“We’ve been thrown into a high-pressure situation, which intensifies everything. If we were in a normal setting, we might not have happened.”
He scoffed at this. “It does not matter the situation. I would have always desired you.”
I hated that I knew better. I hated that I remembered that he most decidedly had not liked me at first. But maybe being thrown together and forced to work in tandem to escape would have changed his feelings about me, regardless. After all, he had defended me from the Imperial guard before he lost his memory. And so much of his core Vandarness was still there.
I lowered my head and laid my cheek on his chest. “Sweet talker.”
“It is only the truth.”
I hummed a noncommittal response, knowing that the truth wasn’t something either of us knew for certain anymore. The only thing I knew for sure was that I had feelings for Kolt. No matter what happened, I’d fallen for the Vandar beneath all the bravado and bluster. I wasn’t sure if it was the real him or not, but he was the one I’d fallen for.
Which meant that when he recovered his memories, I might be in for a long fall myself. Not that I would change anything or take back the way I felt. It wasn’t something I could turn on and off like a switch.
The truth was that I loved Kolt. I might not know a lot of other things, but I knew that in my gut.
“Skye.” The way he said my name made me stop tracing the curves of his markings. “I am not talking sweet. I am telling the truth when I say that you feel right, that we feel right.”
I looked up to see him staring at me. “I know you are, and I believe you.”
“And you?” he asked. “What do you feel?”
Before I could tell him he felt more than right, he felt like my destiny, there were loud voices outside the door. Then it slid open.
Chapter
Thirty-Five
Kolt
Ibarely had time to jump from the bed and make sure Skye was standing as the door rattled.
“What in the thawsoft hells?” she cursed as she scrambled to get dressed.
I snatched my kilt from the floor and stepped into it moments before the door opened, my boots still scattered with hers. Where were thetvekkingblasters? If the Imperial guards had found us, I wanted to defend us.
“It’s us!” Athena called as several faces appeared in the open space. Faces that went from smiling to startled.
“Apologies,” I said as Skye fastened her pants, her cheeks flushed. “We were startled from sleep.”
“Mmmhmm.” Lettie’s bright red mouth quirked to one side. “You were startled from something.” Then she sent a wink in Skye’s direction. “Not that I blame you, hon.”
