Page 31 of Voyage with the Reclusive Billionaire

Just like he was.

When the cruise ship docks and Corvan and I are alone, locked in my room, I sink back inside of myself.

I search for Jade Montgomery through those bright spots of consciousness. I call her mind toward mine, beckoning, searching, pulling her toward me as I push my way towards her.

Time is passing, I know. Far differently here than it does where there was a sun and a moon and light and true life. There is a world to return to outside of this one, but all I can do for now is search through the blackness, the specs of glowing dark that are barely anything among the void.

And then I find her. Through the throngs of millions of people, Jade finally arrives at my feet (though I didn’t actually have those in this place). I am only mostly sure, at first, until I sift through her memories of Corvan and see everything I need. His vulnerable, exposed confession. Days and nights they’d spent together, happy. And she had traded it all. Traded him like he was nothing.

I tug on the threads of her mind angrily. I take everything she doesn’t deserve to keep—maybe it wasn’t my right and maybe some people would judge me for doing any of this anyway, but I don’t want her to have fond memories of Corvan holding her close when she’d been nothing but shit to him after all. I let her keep the screaming she did at him, the “sorries” he always gave back, even when she didn’t always deserve them.

She’d fucking ruined him. And I would be damned if I let her remember what kind of hold she’d once had over him.

So, I take her memories. I absorb them into this weightless, non-existent body and allow them to become nothing more than molecules of knowledge. Something no one would ever see again.

And when I open my eyes to find that the sky is now a purple-drenched sunset beyond the balcony, I find that Corvan’s hand is still wrapped around mine. I smile at him. I say, “I love you, Cor,” and then I bring his lips to mine.

He kisses me back with so much love, with so much passion and desire, that everything I am sparks to life. He pulls back long enough to murmur, “I was so fucking worried about you. But Sylvie said to leave you. That her Gran had seen something similar once, and that you were the only one who could make you leave. She said grounding you was the only thing I could do, and anything else might hurt you.”

“I’m back now,” I whisper against his lips. “And it’s done.”

“It’s done?” He says the words like he’s not sure he can truly believe them.

“You’re safe from them now, Cor.” I bring his body down on top of mine, holding him close.

“Thank you. Thank you so fucking much, Eliza. I’ll never be able to repay you.”

“There’s one thing you could do,” I whisper to him. “One thing that would make all of it worth it.”

“Anything.” He answers so quickly that I barely have time to finish speaking.

I smile up at him, eyes firmly on his, and say, “Do the rite with me, Cor. Right now. Claim me as yours, forever.”

His body freezes. He pulls back a little to get a better view of me. “Eliza? Are you serious?”

“I want nothing more than you, Corvan. Forever and always. And I want to prove it.”

“You don’t need to.”

“I want to,” I say again. “Don’t you?”

“Yes.” He buries his face in my neck. He kisses me there before muttering. “That's all I want. But I don’t have a gift for you, Eliza.”

“We don’t need one,” I say. “But I want to do the rite. I want to walk off this boat and be yours forever.”

Corvan moves his lips to my mouth, then. He kisses me like we are something completely brand new, now, and I swear it alters my brain chemistry. Then he backs up. Off of me, until he’s standing. “Okay, then,” he says. “Then I’ll be back.”

I frown. “You’re leaving?”

“Yes. To prepare for the rite. No matter what you say, I have to bring you a gift, too.”

She nods, recognition flaring in her eyes. “A gift and a feather.”

“Yes,” I say again. “So I’ll be back. And when I get back, I’ll make you mine. Forever.”

Nothing has ever sounded quite so right in my whole life.

Chapter fifteen

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