Chapter 65
H e came back.
He didn’t explain why he’d left, nor did I ask, nor admit how much I’d missed him.
Too much.
Like one of my ribs had been snapped free, leaving an ache right over my heart.
He had a fresh scar on his arm—the one he uses to strum. He was also wearing a necklace. A long braided piece of leather attached to a flat, circular pendant. A silver Moonplume and a reddish-black Sabersythe bound together, their jagged and sweeping bits fitting against each other.
From what I understand, only one Sabersythe has silver scales, and she lives in Gondragh. Nobody has been able to get close enough to climb on her back and attempt to tame her—and honestly, I hope they never do.
I ate my meal in silence, watching Kaan play his instrument with that pendant hanging proudly against his chest …
Wondering.
I wanted to touch it. Weigh it in my palm. Ask him where it came from. All things that are absolutely none of my business.
If he caught me looking at it, he didn’t let on or even lift his stare from his strings—not that he ever does.
Normally.
When he began playing “Song of the Silent Sun,” I closed my eyes and sang, getting lost in the tune and his sturdy, comforting presence. So when the song finished and I opened my eyes, I certainly didn’t expect to see him staring at me.
For a long moment, we sat there watching each other, unspeakable truths thrumming between us, more palpable than the pluck or strum of his chords.
Something I’d never felt before fluttered through my belly and up into my chest. Like I had a fluffy sowmoth caged beneath my ribs, dusting me in its powder and lighting me up from the inside out.
Pulled toward him like I was caught in a current I had no interest in fighting against, I’d risen.
Edged closer.
He was stone still as I pushed aside my veil and leaned close, so desperate to know what his lips felt like. If they were smooth and warm like I’d imagined them to be.
I brushed against him—featherlight.
It was barely a touch, but it ripped a hole in my perception of the world and bared the guts of a whole new version of existence …
Bigger.
Brighter.
Happier.
I wanted to stay right there forever, caught on that quiet yet clamorous threshold, my heart pounding so hard and fast I was certain my chest was cracking open.
I knew it was wrong. That I was breaking a thousand rules. But how could something so wrong feel so fucking right?
He cupped my face with such tenderness it was like he was cradling a dragon’s egg, and I nuzzled his palm. Found so much comfort in it that I wanted to stay right there.
Forever.
Then he asked me what I wanted, and I told him my truth. One three-letter word that weighed too much, being promised to his kin.
You.
I pulled away with the key in my hand, just unlocking the door when he gripped me from behind, swung me around, ripped off my veil, and kissed me with such ravenous intention I lost myself.
Found myself.
It was the kiss of someone who wanted to give me everything. Take nothing. Yet I gave him my whole heart anyway. Realized it was rightfully his.
That it had been for some time.
I was about to drag him down to the far corner of the hutch where there’s a pile of hay Slátra has no interest in, but then someone came running down the hall, requesting his help on an urgent matter.
They almost caught us kissing. As it was, they blushed at the sight of me unveiled, no doubt noticing the scrap of material clutched in Kaan’s fist before they spun and apologized for intruding.
I didn’t care.
I don’t feel like Haedeon anymore. I feel like Allume—wobbling along, being forged into something strong despite my broken bits.
Perhaps I’ll fly, too.