Remind her of us.
She settles into a cushioned chair, her gray cotton shirt riding up her stomach, a sliver of tattooed skin appearing, and I feel cracked open at the sight.
Oh, how I wish I could reach over and press my lips against her warm skin.
Sitting opposite her, I stay perched on the edge of the seat, my forearms resting on my thighs. I’m uncertain who should speak first, so I break the silence. “Remember when I locked you in that closet when Mercy came to visit?”
I realize my fumble when Veil’s expression shutters and her body tenses.
“What I meant to say is,” I add quickly, raking both hands in my hair while I attempt to defuse the situation, “Mercy came to me for advice that day. On how to apologize to Wolfgang.”
Veil’s brows lift in surprise, and I chuckle dryly.
“The irony is glaring, I know, but I do think it was sound advice — advice I seem to have been unable to listen to myself.”
Silence settles between us as she studies me suspiciously.
“What did you tell her?” she asks.
I smile. “That her apology needs to come from the heart.”
She laughs coldly at my admission and looks away. “Such a way with words,” she says bitterly.
“Veil, please,” I beseech, sliding even closer to the edge of my seat, needing to be as close to her as possible. “I am sorry. Deeply,deeplysorry. I’ve mistreated you — I see it now — and I am begging for you to trust that I’ve finally seen the error of my ways.”
She eyes me warily as her bottom lip quivers, and she bites down on it to make it stop.
“How can I believe you? How can I know that what you say is true?” she whispers bitterly. “You’ll never see me as your equal.”
“I will — Ido,” I press. “I love you, Veil Vulturine.”
Her brows rise high up her forehead, her mouth falling open at my soulful confession, and I hurry to finish the words that have been taking up so much space inside of me.
“I love you with every breath I take. My heart beats to the cadence of your very existence.Believe me, beloved, I am no man without you. Let alone worthy of our gods’ benevolence if I have spit on the most beautiful gift they’ve ever given me. I was a fool to trick you — afool.”
My loaded words hang above our heads like a haunted apparition, and part of me expects her to swat them away and not believe any of it.
“You have hurt me deeply, Gemini,” she says softly, her voice cracking around the pain I’ve caused.
I spring up from my seat, my skin feeling one size too small. “Then punish me!” I say desperately. “Make me pay for what I did to you!” I pace back and forth, waving my hands in the air in agitation. “As long as you keep me, beloved. As long as I am bound to you,stitchedto you so nothing can separate us ever again.”
I stop in my tracks and turn my gaze back to Veil. Her cheeks are wet with near-imperceptible tears, and I want to dig my own grave at the sight. Then I notice her lips twitching, as if fighting a smile, and my chest swells with cautious hope.
“And what about your actions?” she asks. “Those have been the most insidious of all.”
I stay silent for a beat.
“Then marry me. Let’s start there. Marry me, and I shall take your name as mine. Marry me so the whole of Pravitia knows that I am Veil Vulturine’s husband above anything else.”
She laughs; it’s soft and warm, and the sound tugs on the threads of my dark, devious soul.
“You’re being ridiculous,” she says with a subtle smile.
“My words are not said in jest,” I say as I sit back down. “In fact, I have never been this serious in my life.”
My eyes never leave her as I fight every urge, every muscle in my body, to erase the space between us and take her into my arms. I don’t move, hoping she erases the distance instead.
She appears to be deliberating, chewing on the mouthful of words I served her on a silver platter. The subtle lightheartedness that was twinkling in her eyes fades, and her breathtaking features shift into something far too serious. Her eyes turn watery, and my breath catches in my throat.
