“There you are,” he whispered, his throat tight. “Now say it aloud…please…”
She shook her head, her eyes misting.
“Please,” he begged, unashamed.
Her lower lip trembled. She took a breath.
“Kail…”
With a groan, he pressed his forehead to hers.
Auryn’s breath stuttered. “Kail, wait…”
“Why not? Do you not want this?”
“Yes, more than anything,” the words tore from her throat like a bird long caged.
“Then—”
She ran her fingers over his lips. “Because I’ve longed for you…for decades…praying…hoping we could find each other again. Past duty. Past title. Past all the things that bind us. Past what the Rite of Scars took from you…from us…”
You know. Void-damn it all…I never wanted you to know…
A tear slipped down her cheek.
Did you think I would let you bleed before my eyes, Kailorien, and merely watch? Did you think I would sit on my throne, passive, while knowing it was carved from your ribs?
I would give each one for you. Would carve you a key to this cage, if I could.
I will not allow it. Not again. Whatever path remains before us, we will walk it together. Not apart.
“I’ve thought of nothing else,” he grimaced. “After I started to remember, everything changed. In all the ash and blood and war, I could only think of feeling you again, of coming home to you, of finding a way past—” He bit off the end of the sentence, and she stroked his cheek. “Past what I am expected to be and what Iwant to be. For you.”
“Have you found a way?”
“No. But I’m tired of searching alone. Of thinking I am protecting you when all I am doing is leaving you to darkness.”
“Kail…if I taste this now...I might break entirely.”
“I will not break you,” he swore. Stopped. Moved his hand back. “But if this is too much…if I am beyond forgiveness…”
Auryn snagged his fingers. Twined them with her own.
“My body has grown empty without you.”
He took a breath.
Then another.
His heart unsettled. Wild with hope. Not to claim her, but to earn the right to touch her once again. Only a chance. Only her regard. So he might make up for all the time they’d lost. He pulled her flush against him.
“Then let me fill you. Again and again. Until nothing separates us any longer. Not duty. Not the Doctrine. Nothing.”
He kissed her. Not careful. Not sweet. But like he had waited entire lifetimes for her to stand in his arms again. Her mouth parted in surprise—then fire. Her hands rose to his armor, gripping the edges, pulling him in as though she might burn from the inside out if she didn’t touch him, ground him, taste him.
He let it deepen—claiming,taking—until her hands clutched at his shoulders, her body arching withneed. When they broke, they were ragged. Her fingers still on his collar. His breath hot against her lips.
“Kail,” she whispered again, gasping when his fingers ghosted across her neck to move her hair aside. His lips followed, murmuring upwards to seal a kiss against ear. She whimpered, body breaking out in goosebumps.
