It slips out like truth unbound, simple and unstoppable. Undeniable and certain.
His breath catches, a low sound somewhere between awe and ruin. “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
He exhales, a shudder of relief, of something older than the Stars. “From now…” he breathes.
And I don’t hesitate. “Until the Stars claim me.”
Then his mouth finds mine—slow, deep, claiming. The taste of Starlight and honesty still crackling on our tongues.
The world narrows to touch and breath and the heat of skin on skin.
His hands trace the glowing paths along my shoulders, following the light like a pilgrim.
“Let me remind you that thisisreal,” he murmurs against my mouth like a promise of worship. “No more secrets. Just you and me.”
“Yes,” I manage between pants.
He smiles—a rare, breaking thing—and the control in him snaps. He kisses me harder, dragging me closer until we’re nothing but fire and gravity.
The world blurs at the edges—light and shadow, breath and skin—until there’s no boundary between us at all. Only heat, pulse, the rhythm of something ancient thrumming in our bones.
Kael’s hands slide down my back, over the curve of my hips, and he lifts me, fingers digging into the flesh of my ass—effortless, like I weigh nothing, like I’ve always belonged in his arms. The bed catches us in a tangle of limbs and soft linen. My nightdress pools somewhere forgotten.
He hovers above me, eyes blazing. The tether hums between us, alive, electric.
“Arms above your head, darling,” he murmurs. His voice is low command wrapped in worship.
I obey.
The moment my wrists rest above my head, his palm wraps around them, gripping them together tightly. But it’s his eyes that pull me in—something wild and reverent flickering in them. His other hand traces the length of my arm, fingers brushing the newly forged marks at my shoulder. His dark waves fall forward over his forehead, and gods, he’s a vision. All hard lines and sharp edges, but for me, he’s devotion incarnate.
“Every part of you,” he breathes, “was always meant for me.”
The weight of him presses me into the sheets, the world narrowing to the space between our mouths. Our bodies.
And then?—
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
KAEL
For a moment,I just look at her.
The candlelight turns her into something celestial—all gold skin and trembling breath, her wrists bound in my hand, the new light running beneath her skin like veins of fire.
The world is quiet.
No kingdom, no prophecy, no secrets between us. Just her.
The woman I would raze kingdoms for.
My words hang in the air.Every part of you was always meant for me.
She exhales—a sound that’s half-prayer, half-surrender—and in that instant, I forget every vow I ever made to keep control.
Because love doesn’t want control. Love is wreckage. A sacred burial ground for restraint, control, and peace.
