“Accurate,” he says without missing a beat.
Despite myself, my lips twitch. He grins back, all charm.
“But you’re doing the same thing,” I shoot back. “You’re assuming that everything will work out. That you’ll find a way.That the crown will bend or break or magically stop being… what it is. That your duty will change.”
“I’m not assuming,” he corrects quietly. “I’mcommitting. We’re all committing, killer.”
That wipes the smile from my face.
His hand slides to the back of my neck, holding me there. Grounding me in the way my omega craves.
“I don’t know what it’s going to look like,” he admits. “I don’t know where we’ll end up living, or what compromises will need to be made, or what the political landscape will look like in a month, let alone a year. But I do know this,” his thumb presses lightly into my pulse under my ear. “I’m not building a future that doesn’t include you.”
My breath catches and my eyes and nose sting at the certainty in his tone.
“Whatever that means,” he continues, softer now. “Wherever that takes us. I will figure it out.Wewill figure it out.”
Something in my chest loosens, even as the fear still lingers, stubborn and sharp ready to cut.
“And what if Forsythe doesn’t change his mind?” I ask quietly. “What if he chooses duty over me?”
Thayer’s expression doesn’t flicker, remaining steadfast and determined. “Then we adjust the equation.”
That startles a soft laugh out of me. “God, you really are a professor.”
“And you, killer,” he says, blue eyes warm, “are catastrophizing.”
“I am not-”
“You are,” he cuts in, gently. “You’re taking the worst possible outcome and treating it as the most likely one.”
I hesitate. He’s got a point.
“Maybe I am,” I sigh in defeat. “But given my life experiences so far can you really blame me? I just don’t wantto build a life on something that might disappear and hurt me irrevocably when it does. I’ve done that before, Thay.”
His expression softens fully at that.
“Then don’t,” he says simply.
I blink at him.
“Build it on what’s real,” he continues. “What’shere.What’s happening now. What we’re doing, day by day.” His fingers trace lightly along my spine. “I know it’s not exactly as you’d prefer it, Ren. And I know what we’re doing right now isn’t enough. But it is something, isn’t it? Something worth building on, worth shaping.”
I study him, searching for doubt.
I don’t find any.
Only certainty. So much of it, in fact, that I find myself borrowing a bit from him, tucking it into my chest right along with my hope that this will all work out.
“Okay,” I say finally, the word quiet but firm.
His lips curve slightly, like he knew I’d get there. “Good.”
I roll my eyes a little, but I don’t move off his lap, settling more solidly against him, letting him hold me the way he’s holding my fears.
“Still annoying as hell,” I mutter, tipping my chin to brush a kiss to the underside of his jaw, inhaling his coffee and parchment scent as I do.
“Still yours,” he murmurs back, dipping his head to brush his mouth against my temple.
