Page 146 of A Warrior's Fate

Kai heaved a breath, and Isla was left cold and exposed as he moved to sit at her side, leaving a small distance between them as he raked his hand through his hair. As Isla rose to her knees, he’d only spared her a glance.

She watched his throat bob before he answered, finally, “I do.”

More words like a shot, stealing the wind from her again.

The woman that I love…

The sentence ran rounds in her head. All of it.

The woman I…

But besides the mentioning of love, another phrase clawed its way along her skin.

And I’m running out of time with her.

Isla remained rooted in her spot and cleared her throat. “Why are we running out of time?” Though she didn’t know the answer, it still felt like a foolish question.

Kai looked at her fully. “Because me falling in love with you wasn’t part of our plan.”

She wasn’t sure that her ears would ever get used to that word from his lips, that her brain would ever stop pausing at it, but she did her best to ignore the feeling, to focus on what had framed it.

The plan.

Isla nearly cackled remembering that night in the garden. When the Hunt ended, she’d go back to Io, he’d come lead Deimos, and they would forget about each other. But after all of this, how was that even possible?

“None of this was a part of our plan,” she said. “I’m here in Deimos.”

“But you will be going back to Io once the warriors’ assignment here is over,” Kai said. “Right?”

Isla couldn’t get herself to answer.

He turned away, focusing forward. Regret shone across his face. “You can’t stay…and I don’t think I can let you go. Not when we’re like this.”

Like this. Still tied to each other. Partially bound.

For some reason, panic rose in her chest. “You want to reject me?”

“No.” Kai looked like the proposal was absurd. “But I know us being together will be complicated, and that in the end, you’ll have to give up a lot more than I have to.”

Isla managed to choke down a swallow, circling her arms around herself as she thought, remembered. Accepting the bond with Kai meant she’d likely never see home again. Barely see her family, Adrien. Twenty-one years washed away in a blink.

Some conditioned part of her felt like a traitor when she spoke next, entertaining an idea that she should’ve found ridiculous.

“Why do you think it was someone of Io who tried to kill me?” she forced out. “What do you know that you haven’t told me?”

Kai held in a deep breath, but when he opened his mouth to speak, a distant howl cut through the air.

It was for her.

Isla glanced up at the sun through the canopies, nearly to its highest point. It was almost noon. They’d be heading up the mountain soon, with or without her, and she’d be forced to pick up the slack with extra speed and extra weight as punishments.

She didn’t care. She’d take it. She’d take all of it to get through this, and finally get a grasp on what was happening.

But when she turned to Kai, he was rising to his feet, preparing to head back.

“No,” she protested, and Kai offered her a hand. Isla glowered but took it. Standing on her feet before him, she narrowed her eyes further.

He sighed. “I will tell you everything, Isla, I promise.” As doubt cast across her face, he took it in his hands and kissed her like it was the last time he ever would. In a way that took her breath for a third time. But she steeled herself as they broke apart, not letting how much it had incapacitated her show. “I promise.” He drew out each word.

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