He gave a slow nod. “Nezra. And I think Elva suspects. I’ve been masking the scent, keeping the bond veiled until I told you, and,” he swallowed, hard, “until you made your choice.” There was a shift between us, as though some star high above tilted its axis.
“Is that why you marked me?”
A grimace flashed at the corner of his mouth, almost sheepish, almost feral. “Yes,” he admitted, “but also no. It was instinct. I didn’t think, Ijust…felt.” His thumb brushed my knuckles, a faint apology in the motion. “And I am sorry.”
I wrenched my hands from his, only to cradle his face instead. His skin was rough where the scars crossed his jaw. Then I kissed him, a collision of our mouths, a clash of teeth, tongues tangled in a need undone and unarmored.
When I broke away, his breath scorched my lips. “The best thing I could ever be,” I said, voice shaking, “is your mate.”
Ronan’s eyes ignited as he caught my hands again, this time lifting them and pressing his mouth to each palm. “The best thing you could ever be,” he murmured, “is who you already are. Or whoever you choose to become.” His thumb dragged a slow circle against my wrist, sealing each word like a vow. “And I will love every version.”
The space between us fell away, exposing the bond fate had tied—breath, fate. A pulse too rare to name.
“What are you thinking about?” Ronan’s voice slid through the hush as we sat on his balcony, our legs tangled in a lazy knot.
He’d explained the barrier being like the panes in my chambers, except here, we could see out but no one could see in. Not that it mattered. We were suspended above the world, hundreds of feet hidden in the clouds. They drifted past like silver ribbons while the kingdom below dissolved into a quilt of mist.
The sun was setting, but the chill skating down my spine had nothing to do with the air. It was the thought of him glimpsing what had flashed behind my eyes earlier, the mirror, the stain, the crown of obsidian cracking across my skin.
If Ronan ever saw me for what I truly was, it wouldn’t matter how deep our bond ran. He would kill me. He would have to.
The power between us was never equal. He could send what he pleased through the tether, curtain himself in silence, but I couldn’t stifle mine. No matter how hard I pushed happiness or calm across that bond, he knew. Even when he didn’t see it.
My voice scraped as I asked, “What if—” A pause, debating if I should swallow it instead. “What if I really become the monster they built? The curse,” my fingers tightened into my palms, “I can’t glamour it much longer. It’s too strong now.”
Did his power let him see how undone I was beneath it all—past the mask, past the skin, down to what pulsed, black and endless, underneath? Did Ronan know exactly who he had bound himself to so easily?
“My soulflame.” He let my foot slip from his palm and, before I could blink, he was between my legs. The shift was fluid, his hands catching mycheek. “What if you become more? We all fail. We all let the dark guide us when the weight becomes too much. But,” he pressed his forehead to mine, “I promise to bring you back. Every time.” His other palm locked onto my face. “Look at me,” he whispered, making sure I met his gaze. “Every time, Verena.”
The first sob punched out of me, grief I’d locked away spilling over, unrestrained. “I’m not who I was anymore.” My head turned just enough to escape the full heat of his stare, the words searing as I forced them out. “I’m losing myself. The woman you see now…she’s drowning. Eventually, she’ll be gone. Lost for good.”
He tried to dam it off before it reached me, but sorrow seeped through the bond anyway, inescapable. I couldn’t tell if it was for me or for him.
“What I feel for you exists beyond all of that.” He threaded his fingers through tangled curls, past the gold hoop glinting at my ear, and pressed his forehead to mine. “Give me your fears, your doubts, your dread.” His scent wrapped around me, warm spice and salt, dragon-fire…and home. “I want your bloodlust and your nightmares. Spill them onto me. Because if you become a monster,” his pupils flared wide, catching the movement behind my own, “then I’ll become worse. So, they come for me before they ever reach you.”
My arms slid around his neck, legs knotting at his waist as I folded into him.
“You are not alone anymore,” the promise settled into me, finding its home there. “Give me all of it,” he whispered. “Until there’s nothing left for you to feel but my devotion.”
Recognition lived in his eyes. Impossible, and so boldly unearned. I didn’t deserve this—this serenity, this rare stillness that only existed inside his touch. He took my sorrow the way storms drink rivers, every tear devoured by the promise he’d made, until my eyes were dry and my lungs emptied. And still he held me, unmoving, a fortress built around whatever was left of my heart.
His arm shifted from the arch of my back, his palm sliding to my thigh as his mouth found the curve of my jaw, then the crook of my neck, each kiss a brand, a claim, a question.
In answer my fingers twined around the chain at his throat, a murmur vibrating against my skin, a sound too soft to catch, more breath than word.
I drew back, searching in his eyes. “What did you say?”
The fist he had tangled in my hair loosened as it dropped to cradle the back of my neck. “Thank you,” he said again.
My brows drew tight. “For what?”
He smiled. “For the first time, my vision is finally clear.”
I didn’t remember Ronan carrying me back into the room, only the pull, the gravity of him.
“I need you.” His breath was a plea against my mouth. “Not gentle. Not slow. Real.”
I couldn’t do anything but nod and that was all he needed. Our lips crashed, desperate and bruising, while he spun, moving through the shadows with me in his arms. He halted only when the velvet chaise caught his stride. Every kiss deepened as he sat, dragging me astride him, hands clamping at my hips.
