He pressed a final kiss to my lips. Then my cheek. My brow. Gentle. Worshipful.
Without a word, he lifted me into his arms and carried me to the furs.
We curled around each other, skin to skin, the sweetness of crushed honey cakes still lingering in the air. His heartbeatthundered under my palm, steady and strong. A promise in every beat.
“I want the soulbond, too,” I whispered, sleep already tugging at the edges of my mind. “
His arms tightened around me. “Then that’s where I’ll take you next.”
And with that vow still echoing in my ears, I let the safety of his warmth lull me under, wrapped in him, wrapped in us.
The gods had given me back my life.
But more than that?—
They’d given mehim.
Icould hardly believe my luck.
It had been a damn miracle when I won Daphne the first time. That she would bind herself to me a second time—freely, fiercely, without memory, andstillchoose me—was beyond anything I could have ever dared hope for.
When I woke the next morning with her in my arms, I felt like I might explode from everything inside me. Relief. Awe. That quiet kind of joy that doesn’t shout, but hums in your chest like a sacred drum.
She was tucked against me, her bare skin was warm where it pressed against mine, her breath soft and even against my throat. My arms were wrapped around her instinctively, like my body had remembered this hold long before my mind could catch up.
I didn’t dare move.
For the longest time, I just lay there. Barely breathing. Afraid that if I stirred too much, she might vanish like mist. Or worse—wake up, look at me, and realize this wasn’t what she wanted. ThatIwasn’t what she wanted.
That fear, raw and primal, crept under my skin like frost. It didn’t belong to a warrior or a vissigroth. It belonged to a man who’d already lost her once, and who knew the gods weren’t always generous twice.
But then she shifted.
Not away—butcloser.
Her leg curled over mine. Her hand slid up my chest, her fingers splayed over my heart like they belonged there. And gods help me, I think they did.
A shaky breath escaped me. My grip tightened just enough to anchor us both, and I let my lips brush the crown of her head. Her hair smelled like crushed wildflowers and a memory I hadn’t dared reach for in years.
She didn’t wake.
And I didn’t explode.
But Ididstart to believe—for the first time—that this might be real. That she was mine. Again.
Still.
Always.
A content sigh escaped her, her eyelids fluttered open, and I stared at the most amazing sight in the entire universe. Her green eyes looked up at me with wonder and love. A smile curvedher lips when our gazes met, a smile that lit up her entire face. "Good morning."
"Good morning," I replied with the human greeting. I knew she didn't remember, but this was how it used to be for us—waking and staring into each other's eyes. Even if her mind didn't remember, her soul and heart did. And that was like the greatest gift Grandyr could have given me.
"I dreamed," she said.
"What did you dream?"
"Of us. It's funny, I've been having these dreams ever since I woke. Usually, I forget them the moment I wake up, but not this time."
