Page 202 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“Luka?” she asked, his name hesitant on her lips.
“Sorry, baby girl,” he finally said. “I’m just trying to figure out why I would be upset about you saving my life.”
“Because the choice was taken from you.”
“If I was dead, it wouldn’t matter, but I assure you, I would have chosen to live,” he replied flatly.
“That’s not what I mean,” she said in frustration, a hand reaching for her hair. But when his eyes narrowed at the movement, she stilled, dropping it back to her side. “I mean you didn’t get to choose the Mark. The fact that you have to— You can’t— We have to be careful now.”
Finally understanding where this was going, he set his water bottle aside before holding out his hand to her. Tentatively, she slipped her fingers into his palm, and he tugged her to him.
She tipped her head back to look up at him, something akin to guilt lingering in her eyes. “You didn’t get to choose this,” she whispered. “I know what it is to be forced into a bond you didn’t want. Didn’t get to choose.”
He said nothing, only leaned down to kiss her. She melted into him, letting him take control of her mouth as he slid his fingers into her hair. Parting to let his tongue in, she sighed softly when he tugged on her hair and tilted her head for a better angle.
When he pulled back, he pressed his brow to hers. “I understand why this is hard for you, but I’m not upset, Tessa. You saved my life. Kept me here with you and Theon. If you’re worried I’m upset that we have to be careful how much distance there is between us, I think we established yesterday that you shouldn’t be goinganywherewithout us,” he said. “If it means Imust remain within a certain radius of you, I don’t consider it a hardship.”
“It’s still a choice that was taken from you,” she insisted. “Another thing that I stole from you.”
“We’re not doing that, Tessa,” he said firmly. “We’ve dealt with what happened, and now we’re moving on.”
“You can’t tell me this is a forgive-and-forget situation,” she argued, her power sparking as her emotions heightened.
“You’re right. It’s not,” he agreed. “But I think all three of us have learned from our past mistakes with each other at this point.”
“I guess,” she murmured.
“NotI guess.Last night we all agreed no more lies and no more secrets. If that isn’t learning from our past mistakes, I don’t know what is. It’s that whole balance thing between us.”
She gave him a weak smile that told him she still didn’t quite believe him.
“Even though I didn’t make this choice myself, I wouldn’t change this. I would have chosen you. Idochoose you. I was coming to tell you that day. To see if you still wanted me,” he said. “This Mark on my chest makes no difference to me. We may as well call it our Union Mark for all I care.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“That’s not very convincing,” he replied dryly.
“You realize that if something happens to me, if I die, you die too, right?”
“Considering that would put a great deal of distance between us, I understand that just fine. You are immortal, baby girl, and if there comes a day when you do go to the After, I’ll follow you there,” he said. “But we’re immortal too, and Theon will fight death to keep you at his side, so I think we’re pretty safe.”
“Theon is death,” she muttered, worrying her bottom lip. “Do you know he looksexactlylike Arius? They could be twins.”
“Don’t say that,” Luka said with a curl of his lip. “That would make the two of you far too related.”
She huffed another laugh. “We’ve established multiple times that he is so far removed from Arius that is very clearly not the case. It’s just…weird.”
Luka hummed a response as his hand fell to the small of her back, and he guided her from the training room.
“You aren’t going to finish your workout?” she asked in confusion.
He shrugged. “Cutting out early one day won’t hurt.”
“You never let me cut out early,” she grumbled under her breath.
He pinched her side, and she smacked his hand away with a small smirk.
The truth was he could still feel her uncertainty. He might call her needy when they were fucking, but she was annoyingly self-sufficient. And as of late, she didn’t crave anyone’s approval. The fact that she was seeking his appealed to his nature of needing to care for her. If she needed reassurance, he was fine with that. He’d take the time to make it happen.
