She drew a few steps closer, drawing her arms out toward the baby as if she could not help it. Then suddenly, just as her fingertips nearly reached William’s, she paused and looked up atConstantine with a pleading look that nearly broke his heart all over again.
“May I?” she asked.
“Of course,” Constantine rasped, blinking slowly to break out of his reverie. “Of course you can.”
He transferred William into Elara’s arms, and the baby’s lips curled into a toothy grin as he reached for her face; his tiny hands finding a grip on her rosy cheeks.
“Oh, how you have grown, I swear it,” Elara cooed, placing kisses all over the boy’s face, making his cooing sound grow into giggles.
“He missed you,” Constantine said, his heart racing as he took in the sweet view before him.
Elara looked away from William and up at him; her smile turned sad as another tear escaped down her cheek.
“I missed him as well,” she said, barely above a whisper.
For a moment, Constantine’s fear of being rejected nearly overtook him. Then, recalling what was at stake, he pushed it aside and let his heart be vulnerable—possibly for the first time in his life.
“Elara, we both miss you,” Constantine said in a rush, taking a step closer. “We have missed you so very much. Please, come back home. I... we love you.”
A jolt seemed to move through Elara, causing a stiffness to form in her stature as her eyes slowly grew wide.
“You… you love me?” she breathed.
“God, yes,” he confessed on an exhaled breath, giving in to his wants and placing his hands on her shoulders. “I love you, Elara.”
Immediately, lightning surged through his palms—just as it always did when they touched. He was confident Elara felt it too, her rosy cheeks reddening as she let out a sigh.
“I…I…” she stammered, more tears escaping her eyes as she looked from him to William. “Oh, I love you, too. Both of you, so much.”
Her confession made him want to crow with joy, and he let out a breathy laugh as he moved in to kiss her—something he had been wanting to do since he first saw her again.
Pain exploded through that joy, though, as Elara reared back, stepping out of his touch and moving until there was a wide space between them. Constantine shook his head; sorrow took its rightful place.
“I am sorry. I cannot.”
“I do not understand,” he said shakily. “You love me, Elara, and I love you, and yet...”
“So much has happened, Constantine,” Elara said, her heartache clear in her voice as more tears trickled down her cheeks. “My family is the reason why your brother is in prison. Why he may swing from the gallows! And your family is the reason why my brother is lying upstairs, covered in bruises and littered with broken bones!”
“You think I care about all that?” Constantine hastily replied, braving a step toward her as she looked at him wide-eyed. “Elara, you were right. You were right about everything from thestart.”
He could not lose her. Not now that he knew she loved him.
“My brother is responsible for the most wretched of things,” he pushed on. “And yes, it may hurt me that he has done so, but it washisdoing, not mine, and I do not wish to spare him from the consequences of his actions any longer!”
“Yes, but—”
“Evander was right to try to take Augustus down,” he continued with great vehemence. “And I will spend the rest of my life apologizing for not taking his side or heeding his warnings, but I want to fix this, Elara. I want to fix it all… But I do not want to do so without you. You have changed me. You have changed William. We are forever better because of the mistake that brought you to us, and if you refuse to listen to your heart, we will never recover.”
Silence stretched between them, unnerving Constantine even further as Elara looked more confused and pained than ever before.
“How would we do this after so much has happened?” Elara asked.
She still looked distraught, sounded it too, but her question gave him hope.
“We start anew,” Constantine answered, braving another step that brought him within touching distance. Elara did not move away, and his blood sang with joy.
“We start this new marriage with the love we have for each other. We will raise William, and we will do what we can to heal the rift between your family and mine.”
