He glances to the sky briefly before gazing back down. “Addison Thornrose, gods help me, but I never thought I’d say this to anyone. For so long I lived in the dark. I holed myself away from the idea of loving anyone except Ryals. But you’ve shown me that I’ve been so, so wrong. Being with you these past weeks has made me realize what I was missing out on, and I never want to go back to that place again.”
He rubs his thumb across my cheek so tenderly that I close my eyes.
But he’s not finished. “You mentioned the joining. Yes, it ties us to one another. But even if we’d never joined, fate would have brought us together, because nothing and no one could’ve hidden you from me. Not even the heavens could’ve secreted you away. If they’d needed to, the earth and the sky would’ve changed places so that you and I could find one another, because from the first moment we met, I wanted to carve out a space in my life for you, and nothing on this earth or beyond would’ve stopped me from doing that.”
My mouth falls open. No one, no one in my entire life has ever even come close to saying anything like this to me. And I know he’s not lying, because it’s exactly the same way that I feel. Nothing could have kept us apart, not even fate itself.
He lifts my hand and releases his fingers, pressing his palm flatly against mine. “You have changed me, and for once a fae myth is right. I didn’t say it when you mentioned it, too soonand all, but we believe that a joined couple signifies true love, and I’ve come to believe that.”
My mouth’s a desert it’s so dry, but I know there’s one more question to ask, one more thing that’ll push us to where we’re supposed to be.
“How do you know?”
He spreads his fingers and threads them through mine again. His gaze is on our hands when he says, “Because if this isn’t true love, then true love doesn’t exist.”
My chest’s heaving. My skin’s on fire from him, the joining, my nerves—all of it. Feylin drops his gaze from our hands and pins it on me.
And I am lost.
The hand that’s cupping my face slides back to cradle my head as he dips his mouth to mine and kisses me.
The first time we kissed, it was all passion and fire, flames of heat.
This is completely different. His lips are gentle, soft, a question—will I accept his offer?
My lips part in answer, and his tongue slips into my mouth as I groan at the pleasure uncoiling inside me. He drops his hand from mine and takes my face with both his hands, holding me in a gentle promise, offering protection, loyalty, love.
He pulls back slightly, sapphire eyes overflowing as his thumbs stroke my cheeks. “You, Addison Thornrose, you have wrecked me,” he whispers hoarsely before he claims my lips again.
I’m just as wrecked as him.
These kisses—as our lips touch and retreat, touch again—create a spark deep within my gut, a swell of emotion.
If this isn’t true love, then true love doesn’t exist.That was what he said, and every cell in my body agrees. Because it feels like my body is parched earth, cracked from dehydration, andFeylin’s a monsoon that fills every fissure, giving me the nourishment that I’ve craved my entire life.
Pleasure and love consume me. Feelings that I’ve been bottling up for weeks pour out into this kiss—pour out of him, too. Every kiss conveys something new—I’ve wanted this forever. Why did we wait so long? How is it I’ve only just found you?
As his lips move with mine in this dance, as our tongues meet, as shivers over shivers skate down my spine, I realize that my feet have left the ground. We’re in the air, spinning in a circle of light that cloaks us in its shimmery glow.
I pull back and gasp. Feylin looks around, looks down. I do the same. We’re a good ten feet off the ground. I grab his biceps, and he kisses me again, chuckling into my mouth.
“What’s so funny?”
“And there’s your magic. All of it. Right there. Do you feel it? Can you call it?”
I do feel it. It’s a ball of light that lives in my core, ready to be expanded and pulled in at will.
I kiss him again, savoring the feel of his velvety lips against mine. I never want to stop kissing him. “Do you think I can get us down?”
He presses his forehead to mine. “Addison, you can do anything you desire. Just don’t get us killed.”
I throw back my head and laugh before tossing my arms around his neck and pressing my lips to his one more time.
34
FEYLIN
For the first time in years, my heart’s full. I’m no longer shackled to a past that can’t be changed. It’s freeing, this feeling, and I owe it all to Addison—whom I’m in love with. How could I not be?
