“I love you, Xera,” he says in a low, sultry tone.
My hands cup his face, pulling him down to me. “I love you, Kai.”
“For our eternity.” His breath fans against my lips. “I’ll accept nothing less than that.”
“And even then… it won’t be long enough.” I kiss him, and hope that it never ends.
Kai madelove to me for hours until I passed out. I’d hoped we’d make it until the sun came up, but I’m glad I managed to get some sleep. While he can function without it, he was passed out just the same when I woke up in his arms.
I trace my fingers across his collarbone, up to his jaw, rousing him. As his eyes slowly blink open, returning to the land of the living, he meets my gaze and smiles.
He doesn’t say a word, just tightens the arm he has around my head and wraps the other around my back, pulling me closer. We mold together, as if my body was made for his—every gap filled, no space left for the wind to slip through.
I finally return his smile.
“Tell me,” he says before drifting forward and kissing my forehead. “Pancakes for breakfast?”
Taking a deep breath, I shake my head. “I’m not hungry.”
A soft chuckle vibrates from his throat. “How is that even possible?” He knows exactly why I’m not hungry, but I won’t give him a hard time about teasing me. His hand cups under my chin, his thumb gently tracing a line back and forth across my cheek. “Alright, little demon.”
“Can we just stay here… until the moment we need to meet with them?”
He nods, and I draw my leg up over his hip. I pull his head down to my neck, and rest mine against his. There isn’t anything more that I want than to say,“Stay here forever”. To somehow set this world on fire, and just let it be us.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“Uh oh,” I tease.
He doesn’t retort, only presses his lips to my neck and rubs his nose gently against my skin. “About the real use of that dagger you have.”
I let out a soft huff of air, and chills run down my spine.
“Not that I ever doubted your love for me…” His nails drag against my pebbled skin. “But I think that solidifies it for me.”
Nothing feels real, not even his touch, and I can’t stop my hands from shaking.
“I wish you wouldn’t, though.” He kisses up my neck to my jaw. “But simultaneously, knowing you’d do that for me... definitely makes my slow heart beat faster.” As he releases my face, I meet his piercing crimson eyes—the ones that hold the warmth of the sun. The catalyst to my darkness, the creator of my shadows.
“There is no me without you.” There is strength in my statement. “None.”
He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “You deserve peace, and to live?—”
“With you.” I release a shaky breath. “If I can’t have that, then I don’t want it. You are my peace, Kai.”
“I know, I know.” He shifts us, but only so that he can wrap both of his arms around my head. I close my eyes and listen to the steady beat of his heart. His skin, warm and inviting, suctions me in.
“I wish I could say it won’t happen…” I murmur, my hands tightening into fists. “But I can’t without it being a lie.”
He sighs, and I look up at him, seeing that handsome smile of his. “Then it happens, and you’ll be free. That is the goal here.”
My freedom with your death is not worth it…
I want to say those words to him—that he should just disappear andlet me fight this endless battle alone. To take Sydni and protect her from my darkness.
Yet I can’t, because in the end, I’m selfish. A creature made to take, never to give. One that manipulates and destroys, never the other way around. I don’t create life—I destroy it. Even now, with Kai.
“It will be our final card, not one we will pull in the beginning.” He continues, likely feeling my discomfort. “However, let’s discuss what that implies, in the event it’s inevitable.”
