Idan leaned in, his breath warm against her temple. ‘Physics has nothing to do with it, Sheba. You’re the strongest gravitational pull in my universe.’
She rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t hide her smile. ‘Starbane’s void, you’re cheesy.’
‘Actually,’ he muttered, his hands sliding to her waist, ‘I’m divine.’
He moved his touch to her face, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw.
‘Sun sakin subuta suhin suhina. You’ve rewritten the constellations of my spirit,’ he murmured. ‘You’ve seized my sacred spark and bound it to your mortal heart.’
Sheba glanced up at him, her dark eyes dancing as they reflected the amber pulse of his sigils. ‘Who are you? How do you speak with such sacred poetic mastery?’
‘I can’t help it,salkia. You’re the only soul I’d burn the heavens to keep as mine. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been consumed by the need to lose myself in you until the world falls away. I want to take you beyond the stars, to that place of pure, blinding bliss within the Gardens of Aethelgard.’
‘Is that right?’ she murmured, still a little skeptical. ‘I’ll have you know I’m wary of sweet-talking men.’
‘Then thankfokkI’m no mere mortal,’ he grinned. ‘On a somber note, you’re the first woman I’ve ever spoken to this way. My people only quote poetry when they are in the presence of their destined twin essence. In this case, you, my queen, with whom my heart longs to plant seeds and have babies with.’
When her eyes dilated in shock, he chuckled, burying his face in her nape.
‘Am I rushing you?’
She shrugged.
He rumbled into her neck. ‘Please,salkia, know this, I won’t rush you, there is no race. Let’s take our time and become what each other needs, through thick and thin.’
She twisted in his arms and stared into his eyes. ‘Who are you? Where are you even from? How are you in my life?’
‘What do you mean?’ he rasped.
She cast her eyes from him, gazing beyond the walls. ‘You need to know that I never thought I’d ever find eternal love, and even right now I doubt it’ll happen.’
She glanced away for a second. ‘The last time I tried for a relationship, my heart broke; it hurt so bad that I decided to lock it away and only care for me, myself, and I.’
Sheba eyed Idan, her brow furrowed.
‘Now here you are,’ she whispered. ‘Yet my soul struggles to understand how you’re in my life?’
Idan huffed. ‘It’s because we are meant to be. At least here and now. I also sense it will be a long-term connection because you’re the most entrancing woman I have ever met in all my immortal days.’
Sheba stiffened against his chest. ‘Immortal?’
Idan drew in a breath, and his lips quirked as he knifed up and fixed her with a somber gaze. ‘Ah, I gave myself away. I am the humble son of an otherworldly power, one with an eternal existence.’
‘Like Mo,’ she stated, her voice quiet.
‘Mo?’ Idan’s brow furrowed.
‘Molan. My best friend’s partner. He’s a Sacran, who got cast to Iccythria, and only found out who he was not so long ago.’
Interest ignited in Idan’s eyes, a gleam of curiosity. ‘Did he now?’
‘Are you the same? Sacran?’ Sheba asked, searching his face.
He shrugged. ‘Beautiful, I amsomething. That much I know.’
‘You’re deflecting,’ she accused. ‘YouareSacran.
‘Am I?’ Idan rasped, choosing to remain enigmatic. ‘You’ve rumbled me.’
