Page 232 of The Lands Defying
“Then I will always let you see my eyes, Darius. I will be yours, just like you are mine.”
His chest rises and falls deeply as I move closer.
“I will always meet you under the moonlight.”
“Under the moonlight,” he rasps, hand still out, waiting for me.
I stop just out of reach, needing him to hear my next words, needing him to know how serious I am as I take in a deep breath.
“I forgive you, Darius.” His jaw ticks, that hand curling into a fist as he blows out a breath. “And I need you to forgive yourself too.”
I look up to the moon and let it wash over my face, while also roaming over my skin. The glamor I wear fades instantly, and I stand there before him, with all my scars on display.
Darius can see them all through my sheer dress, see them all vividly.
“What do you see now?” I ask him, heart pounding in my chest. The last time andonlytime he has ever seen my scars was outside Witches Rest.
When he doesn’t say anything, just continues to look over my body, I start to wonder if I did the right thing by showing him, if maybe this was a mistake, but after a few rough swallows, he speaks.
“My everything,” he rushes out, chest rising and falling harshly as he closes his eyes briefly, clearing his throat. “I see my everything, Rhea.”
I reach for his hand instantly, he grips mine so quickly and pulls me to him, breathing into my neck. He’s shaking, holding me impossibly close as I run my hand up his chest and wrap my arms around his neck.
“We will always be, you and I,” he mumbles against my skin. “No matter the future, there is no end. Tell me there is no end.”
“There is no end,” I whisper to him, my eyes filling at the sound of desperation in his tone for my answer.
“My soul is yours, my mind, my strength.” He lifts his hand and grabs mine. Locking our fingers together, he places it on his chest. “You have this, my heart. It doesn’t beat for another, it hasn’t since we met. You own it, control it, it is yours to do what you will with it.”
I blow out a shaky breath, grabbing his other hand, I place it over my own heart. “Mine is yours, too,” I tell him, laughing softly. “You wouldn’t let it be any other way.”
“I wouldn’t,” he murmurs on a smile, rubbing his nose with mine.
I feel my face heat as my markings appear, and Darius’s react, pulsing on his neck. A gentle wind comes, and I feel the call before my magic releases from my feet. I look down, seeing it begin to swirl around us gently, like ribbons. Blue and black.
“Our start wasn’t a happy one. It wasn’t exciting and heartwarming. It was cold and hurtful, unnerving and scary,” I tell him, and when I feel him tense, I grip his hand tightly over my heart and look to him. “I’m...I’m not scared anymore, Darius. Not about this connection, not about you, and not about us. Accept my forgiveness, Darius.” I stare into his eyes intently, and he doesn’t look away. “I forgive you, my former, formidable enemy.” He closes his eyes, resting his forehead to mine, rasping my name. “What’s done is done. We both bear the scars, physically and mentally, but I don’t want to be stuck there. I want to go forward, whatever that may look like. A future that isn’t tainted by our past, but one that looks bright with our new beginning.” He makes a wounded sound in the back of his throat, and our magic twines tighter around us.
“I told you I will give you anything.”
“Then give me this. Hear my words, believe them.”
“I do,” he says, and now I rub my nose with his.
“Then let’s begin, Vihnarn.”
His eyes flash at that. “My brave, strong Vihnarn,” he rasps against my lips.
“Yours.”
“Mine.”
I preen at his words, closing my eyes and smiling. “Always you.”
“Always mine.”
The wind picks up, our powers rising around us as it continues to swirl. We watch it, the moon our ever present witness as they slowly intertwine. The black goes into the blue at first, gentle and soft and the blue doesn’t hesitate. I feel it reaching out, guidedby something other than us, and they twine like rope connecting, fusing, becoming whole.
And I feel…him.
