The being appeared between us in a soft collapse of light, no longer monstrous or chained or terrifying. It was smaller now. Not human, not quite anything I had a name for, layered and luminous, like it was made of overlapping moments.
Its voice came from everywhere at once, gentle and tired.
You have done what none before you could.The flow has been restored. The cost unbound. My influence on your world has ended.
Arthur’s hand found mine, and I gripped it tightly.
“Why are we here?” I asked quietly.
A kindness.You fought for more than yourselves. You deserved to wake somewhere safe.
“Thank you,” Arthur said, his voice thick.
The being inclined its head.Be well, little sparks.
It faded softly, like a soft breeze blowing out a candle. The air in the room returned to normal.
Arthur and I stared at the empty space for a long second, then at each other.
We both started laughing.
It was the sort of laughter that came when your body finally realized it hadn’t died and needed to release every emotion it had been hoarding.
We collapsed into each other, arms wrapped tight around each other, foreheads pressed together.
“We did it,” I said, on a laugh and cry. “Weactually did it.”
“We did,” he said, his voice filled with disbelief. “Youdid.”
I pulled back just enough to look at him. “We.”
His eyes softened in a way that made my chest ache. “We.”
Then he kissed me. He kissed me like he’d already lost me once and wasn’t about to waste another second. Everything in me tilted toward him—heart, body, brain—all of it finally in agreement for once. I kissed him back hard, fisting my hands in his shirt to tell myself he was still real.
“I meant what I said,” he murmured against my mouth. “When I thought we might not make it. I meant every word.”
He made a sound low in his chest and lifted me off the floor without effort. I laughed in startled delight and wrapped my legs around his waist, clinging to him.
His hand moved slowly along my back, absent-minded and grounding, like he was reassuring himself that I was still there.
“Arthur,” I breathed, and he kissed me again.
His mouth was warm and insistent, slow at first and then not slow at all, like he had finally stopped holding back. My hands slid into his hair, wet and tangled, and I pulled him closer, needing him in a way that made my whole body feel too small for what it was feeling.
His hands moved over me with sudden purpose, pulling me closer each time I shifted. Even the smallest amount of space between us had become unbearable. My fingers tightened in his hair in response, urging him deeper into the kiss before either of us could reconsider.
He made a rough sound under his breath when I did that, asif he’d been holding something back for a long time and was finally letting it slip free.
The reaction went straight to my core.
I tightened my grip instinctively, not wanting him farther away than this.
He walked me backward without breaking the kiss, his hands gripping my ass, until the edge of a desk bumped into my hip.
His hands tightened instinctively at my waist when the desk stopped us, fingers digging into my skin. For a second, neither of us moved.
We were breathing the same air now.
