Page 106 of Shifting Hearts 1
“Throw yourself at that thing like you didn’t care what happened to you.”
“I didn’t.” I mean to say it like a fact. But it comes out a confession.
Her lips press into a thin line. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
She shakes her head. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“Enlighten me.”
She leans in, eyes locked on mine. “If you die, I break. That’s the bond. That’s what this is. You think because you refused me all those years ago, you ended the bond between us but all you did was weaken it. If you want to run from this, from us, fine. But stop pretending like you’re saving me by hurting yourself.”
Her voice cracks on the last word. And it kills me.
“I don’t want to want you,” I whisper and her breath hitches. “But I do. I think I’ve wanted you since the moment I walked into your shop with you sitting at the table, pretending not to see me.”
“I wasn’t pretending.”
“You were terrified.”
She nods. “Yeah. Because I remembered.I remembered what it felt like to be refused.”
The word lands like a punch and I close my eyes. "I’m not going to refuse you again.”
She doesn’t speak and when I open my eyes, she’s staring at me like I just handed her a loaded weapon.
“Say it again,” she says, her voice barely a breath.
“I won’t refuse you, Emilia.”
She crawls into my lap, careful of my ribs, careful of everything else but the heat building between us again.
“You’re still bleeding,” she whispers.
“I’ve bled worse.”
“Don’t you dare die on me.”
“I won’t. Not while you still look at me like that.”
We don’t kiss and we don’t strip. We simply sit there, me holding her and her letting me. Because for once, the bond isn’t just about lust or pain. It’s about survival.
Hers.
Mine.
Ours.
And when I finally sleep, wrapped in her scent, her arms, her magic, I dream of nothing but her voice whispering my name like a promise neither of us is ready to break.
NINE
Blood in the Water
Emilia
Lucian’s breathing is even now. Steady.
