I watch.
I can’t help it. The moonlight catches the planes of his back, the dip of his spine, the curve of muscle as he steps into clean pants and pulls them up over his hips. He doesn’t bother with a shirt.
When he turns around, he catches me looking.
Neither of us pretends I wasn’t.
He leans against the wall across from the bed, arms crossed over his bare chest. Waiting.
The silence stretches.
“You were out for most of it,” I finally say. “After the blast.”
He nods slowly. “I remember pieces. The light. You on the ground. And then—” He frowns. “Hands. Everyone touching you. Magic flowing.”
“The healing chain. The guys fed Stellan power so he could pull the pain out of me.”
“And me?”
“Jace put your hand on my arm. Even unconscious, you reached for me.” I swallow. “You were part of it, Seth. Part of what brought me back.”
His jaw tightens. He looks away.
“I woke up and you came to me.” His voice is quiet. “In the courtyard. Before you talked to the Feeders. You ran to me.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
The question hangs between us.
“Because I needed to.” I pull my knees closer to my chest. “Because when I saw you awake—really awake, and alive—something in me just… broke. I had to touch you. Had to make sure you were real.”
He’s quiet for a long moment.
“I thought I died.” The words come out rough. Scraped raw. “In the blast. When the light hit. I thought that was it. And I was—” He stops. Starts again. “I was okay with it. Because at least you’d be free. At least Ethos would be gone.”
“Seth—”
“I didn’t think I deserved to come back.” He finally looks at me. His eyes are wet. “After everything. The Void. What it did to me. The things I went through. I thought—”
“Stop.”
I stand. Cross the room. He tenses as I get closer, but he doesn’t move away.
I stop right in front of him. Close enough to feel his warmth radiating off his bare skin.
“You didn’t deserve any of that,” I tell him. “Ethos was a monster. And he’s gone now. You felt it collapse, didn’t you? The Void?”
He nods. Barely.
“Then you know. It’s over. He’s gone. And you’rehere.” I reach up and touch his face. His jaw. The curve of his cheekbone. His skin is warm and still slightly damp from the shower. “You came back to me.”
His breath catches.
“The bond,” he whispers. “I felt it. In the Void. When you claimed me. I didn’t understand what it was—I just knew I had to get to you. That something was pulling me toward you and I couldn’t stop it.”
“Did you want to stop it?”
