Every part of me aches to give him that. To merge ourselves so completely, I don’t know where he ends and I begin.
“Can I sit down now?”
“No. I’m admiring the view.” Farron smirks and leans back, arms spread on either side of the tub. The move and air of confidence seems like something he must have learned from our dear Summer Prince.
At the thought of Dayton, my heart pangs for him in a sudden desperate beat, and I wish he were here.Not that he wants anything to do with me.
“I know the others find me attractive,” I say, shifting from foot to foot. “Kel probably can’t help it because of the mate bond, but when he saw me this way, his desire was intense.”
Farron licks his lips, and his hand dips beneath the water as he adjusts. Does the idea of my mate seeing me like this turn him on? “Ezryn is the only one who hasn’t seen me naked.”
“Witnessing you unclothed would send Ezryn into the panic of a century. Honestly, I would love to see it.”
So Farron doesn’t just like the idea of seeing me with Kel, but with Ezryn, too. And he might not have joined in, but I think he enjoyed watching Dayton and me in the hot springs. “Ezryn has seen naked women before.”
“They aren’t you.” His eyes darken. “Are you really so unaware of the effect you have on them? The effect you have on me? Sit.”
I do, closer now, between his bent knees.
“Who made you think such a way about yourself?” His voice drops from flirty to serious, and then his gaze shifts to my wrist.
“I didn’t want to admit what Lucas truly was. Couldn’t let myself see the monster behind his smile.” At the mention of Lucas, the water seems to drop in temperature.
Farron brings my wrist to his lips. “Ezryn may have healed the wound, but only you can heal the scar. And some scars go deeper than your skin.”
“I should have let him die. The things he said when I tried to help him… How he attempted to hurt me again…”
Farron shakes his head. “Kindness and empathy aren’t weakness, Rosalina. Those things will always prevail.”
“I kept making the same mistakes with him, over and over. I thought I’d changed in the Enchanted Vale, that I’d learned everything I needed to know about myself. But when I got back to Orca Cove, I couldn’t even say no outright to the engagement.” Thoughts I’ve locked away in the deepest part of my mind spill out. But sharing them with Farron isn’t scary. I know he won’t judge me, no matter how much I regret my past choices. “Sometimes, I hate her. The girl I was. Sometimes, I’m worried she’s all I’ll ever be.”
“There’s no timeline for healing, Rosalina. You can be courageous one day and fearful the next.” He lets my hand fall and cups my cheek, leaning closer across the steaming water. “You’re on your journey, and that’s all that matters.”
“Same for you, Farron. Forgive the boy who was scared.”
His lips tremble. “But what if I’m still that scared boy?”
I place my hand over his. “What if I’ll always hate who I was before?”
We stay there for a heartbeat that feels like a thousand years, and I see myself reflected in his amber eyes. Bare and raw before each other. “I could be brave for you, Farron.”
He leans closer, his forehead resting against mine. “And what if I could love you? Past, present, and future? Every part of you, Rosalina.”
A gasp sounds in my chest, and I blink up at him. But before I can speak, he grabs my face and pulls me into a kiss.
49
Keldarion
“WhataretheKryodianRiders doing outside Winter?” I ask.
Ez gives a shuddering laugh. “I don’t care. I’m just fucking glad to see them.” Then his match strikes true, and his oiled blade ignites with fire, blazing against the rain. He charges into battle with the riders, immediately slicing through the head of a wraith.
A smile finds me, and I roar, rushing after him.
Within minutes, the knoll has been cleared of the herd, their frozen corpses littering the ground. Fire licks at the grasslands, burning away much of the blighted frost. I pull my flaming hand back from the monster and straighten, assessing our surroundings to ensure there are no stragglers.
Ezryn walks up to me, blade extinguished. “I think we got them—”
