Page 74 of Rook

Leaning against the cool marble of the counter, I watch him move. There’s an ease to his actions now, a quiet strength that shows how much he’s changed—from awkward, impulsive, to…this. His muscles flex under his skin as he adjusts the temperature, and my gaze lingers on the long-healed bite mark that mars his neck—a permanent reminder of how deeply our lives are entwined.

“Good?” he asks, looking over his shoulder at me.

“Perfect,” I say, though I’m not just talking about the bathwater.

His hands find my hips, his fingers strong and sure. We’ve crossed so many lines, erased boundaries we once thought were sacred. Yet here, in this moment, it’s just us—no alpha commands, no omega responses. Just Aisling and Gunnar, messy humans in love and learning. Our lips meet, a soft interlude in the cacophony of our past, and then he pulls back just enough to rest his forehead against mine.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out, the word sharp and brittle in the humid air. “I’m sorry for all the lies, the games. I was trying to protect myself, but somewhere along the way…I forgot about protecting us.”

His eyes search mine—still startlingly, beautifully blue.

“Out of everyone,” I continue, my voice barely above the hum of water filling the tub, “it’s you who I hurt the most. I wouldn’t blame you if you couldn’t forgive me.”

For a heartbeat, it feels as if the whole world is holding its breath, waiting for his verdict. But Gunnar doesn’t speak right away. Instead, he holds me closer, his presence a silent promise that words can’t match. His forgiveness isn’t given lightly, but I see the beginning of absolution in the tilt of his head, the softening of his eyes.

“Can’t stay away from you,” he confesses, and I feel the truth of it vibrating between us. “No matter how mad I got…I want us to work through this. I love you, Aisling. Even with all the hurt.”

I don’t know if I deserve his love, his loyalty, but in his admission there’s a salve for wounds I didn’t realize were still bleeding. His words wrap around me like a blanket. We step into the steaming bath, the water a balm to the chaos that has become our lives.

Gunnar gets in first, reaching for me, and I groan as I submerge myself in the hot water and settle back against his broad chest. His heart beats strong against my spine, a reassuring rhythm in a world that’s been off-kilter. He presses a kiss to my temple, gentle, forgiving.

“Let’s sort this mess out,” he says, and I can almost hear the smile in his voice.

I don’t know if he’s talking about me or us.

It doesn’t matter.

He reaches for the shampoo, his hands leaving trails of warmth on my skin. I close my eyes as his fingers begin working the lather into my hair, massaging my scalp. It’s such an intimate act, one we haven’t shared in what feels like lifetimes. The motion of his hands is hypnotic, and for a few precious minutes, I forget about the burdens waiting for us outside this room.

“Thank you,” I whisper, not just for the shampooing, but for everything—his forgiveness, his strength, his relentless hope.

“Tell me everything,” he murmurs, his voice reverberating through the water.

“Where do I even start?” I sigh, feeling the soreness in my muscles.

“When you went to Terra Vitae,” he says. “Since you…since you left me.”

I pause, the ache of my actions making me want to sob.

But I do as he asks.

I tell him about how I offered myself up to the Eclipse in exchange for Gunnar’s safety, how I was given to Terra Vitae as breeding stock, how I was terrorized by Lianna Rossi and my father. How I never broke, and I held strong because all I wanted was him.

And then Luka came…and they destroyed us both.

I go on, describing how I worked things through with Oberon, how I fell for Rook. The tedium of the past few weeks…and how we searched for him. How Luka was desperate to find him, though the might be hurt.

And now we’re here, an hour past after I tell him everything, pruny and warm and safe.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all where I was, but…I didn’t know who to trust,” Gunnar says. “Nero thinks Vance has it out for me, and I’m starting to think he’s right.”

I frown. “Really?”

He takes a deep breath. “Rook came by…told us he has good reason to believe that Vance staged the attack on the skyway to try to drive us apart.”

My heart stutters, and I freeze. “No…no way.”

“You don’t believe it?”

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