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My chest tightens as the memory floods back. The woods. His arms lifting me, rain soaking through every layer until I could feel the cold in my bones. But with him carrying me, steady and unyielding, it’s as if I can’t be touched—I’m calm, safe, indestructible.

“I told myself not to love you. That I couldnae. That protectin’ you meant I could never truly have you. If I let myself feel… if I gave in, I’d fail you. But my heart…” He falters, his hand trembling in mine. “Caitríona Sinclair, my soul has always known you are my home. Even before I knew what it meant to love. My beginning and my end.”

Tears spill down my cheeks as his words root me where I stand, binding themselves to the marrow of my bones, to the very breath that sustains me.

“There is no one else in existence that my heart will ever belong to. You are everything for me, Triona.”

He looks at me as though the world itself hinges on my response, his golden eyes raw with devotion. The world beyond us dissolves into shadow and silence, leaving only him, only us, caught in a moment suspended beyond time itself.

“As long as I draw breath,” he whispers, his voice a vow, trembling but obstinate, “there will only ever be you. Even if you cannae love me back, even if this is unrequited… it’s you, Triona. You are the last woman I will ever love.”

I pull my hands away from his only long enough to weave them through his hair, my fingers trembling as they sink into the silken strands. A shudder ripples through him, a breath caught between restraint and longing. His eyes are wide, unguarded, brimming with the desperate hope I will not break him in this moment.

Finn, a man brought to his knees, not by defeat, but by devotion. Offering himself to me without pride. And the strangest thing is that he is all I thought I’d never find in a partner. A man who surrenders to no one, surrendering only to me. Powerless in this moment, and yet, somehow, stronger than anyone I have ever known.

My life was torn asunder, shredded at the seams. Yet through every shattering moment, I never felt that unbearable pain alone. Finn has been my constant, my unyielding foundation, carrying me through the wreckage—sometimes in the most literal sense.

And now, as he kneels before me, stripped of armour, of pretense, of anything but truth, I do not see the man who believes himself unworthy. I see the force that has held me together when I should have broken. My shield, my anchor, my unwavering strength.

“Finn, you are wrong,” I say softly, reaching out with steady hands to cup his face. In that fleeting moment before our skin touches, a brief flash of panic sparks in his eyes.

“How could you ever think yourself undeserving of love?” I whisper, my thumbs softly following the rugged lines of his face—etched by time and trials, yet still strong and beautiful. “If I could go back, if I could change it all, I would. I would seek you in every moment of your life, and with a fervour unbound, I would tell you what you should have always known—that you are worthy. That you have always been worthy.” My throat tightens with emotion. “Of love. Of joy. Of me.”

I sink to the ground before him, our knees brushing. “You’re the reason I’ve made it through, Finn. And I…” My breath hitches, the weight of my heart pressing into my words. “I regret every moment I spent being too blind to see your love for what it was. Because every second I wasted not loving you back was time—precious time—ill spent.”

He’s watching me, drinking in every word as if they might slip through his fingers if he is not careful.

“You are my haven, Finn. My safe place. And I love you… with everything I have to give, and everything I never knew I offered.”

Finn’s eyes bore into mine with a ferocity that makes me tremble. The fire reflected in them is nothing compared to the one building between us.

A broken sound escapes him, something between a whispered prayer and a lingering sigh. And then—

The world tilts as I reach for him, as his arms wrap around me, pulling me against him in a fierce, desperate embrace. My fingers thread through his hair, and when his lips find mine, it is not a kiss of possession, nor of conquest. It is a kiss of surrender.

Even as destiny itself may strive to tear us apart, I know in my heart this truth: no power in this world or beyond can change what I feel for him. We will always find our way back to each other.

Always.

All barriers between us disintegrate in a blaze of heat and need as the kiss deepens, leaving nothing but raw, unfiltered desire. The weight of our pasts, the fears that kept us apart, dissolve as though they never existed.

“I am forever yers, Triona,” he murmurs, the words threading through the air like an oath before the gods. My heart answers in a thunderous rhythm, a beat that belongs to him entirely.

He travels a feverish path along my jaw, down the curve of my neck, lingering in a way that makes me weak. Our shared truths hang suspended in the air, as eternal and untouchable as the stars overhead.

His lips are a perfect contradiction of velvety softness and rugged fever, moving against mine with unrelenting need.

When he lifts us off the ground, there’s no resistance, no hesitation. My body, my soul, surrender entirely, pliant and eager for him. I wrap my legs around his waist, drawing us closer, and feel the unmistakable press of his desire.

My fingers tangle in his hair as he carries me, his grip firm, his breath ragged with restraint. His hands roam with a confidence that speaks of a man wholly captivated, as though every inch of me is his to discover, to worship. Every touch sends a wave of heat surging through me, building and building until I’m drowning in the inferno he’s awakened.

His lips burn against my collarbone, my pulse hammering beneath his touch. The sensation is maddening, every stroke of his hands a declaration, every kiss a promise.

“Finn,” I sigh, my voice quivering as his hands grip the small of my back, pulling me closer until our bodies align. The desperate moan that escapes his lips sends a rush of heat coursing through me, pooling low in my core.

“I need you.” I whisper.

He stops, his eyes fixed on mine, and a shudder ripples through me—my nipples pebble under the intensity of his look.