Chapter 48
Evan
The sun’s rays stung my eyes as I blinked against the morning light. Warmth soaked into my skin, an inviting heat. Aggressively cozy. The kind of morning glow that demanded you stay in bed for another hour.
Birdsong filtered in from somewhere outside, accompanied by the distant murmur of running water. Lifting an arm, I splayed my fingers against the sunbeams. The radiance turned my skin translucent before my limb dropped to my chest.
A quick glance down confirmed I was drowning in an oversized shirt that definitely wasn’t mine. I brought the collar to my nose and inhaled. The fabric held the scent of sun-dried cotton and mute sandalwood. It smelled like safety.
I hooked my fingertips on the neckline and yanked it down, exposing the center of my chest. There, over my heart, a scar bisected my sternum. Thin and silvered, like it had healed months ago instead of—what? Hours? Days? I traced the raised line, half expecting pain that never came.
Yeah. Definitely got stabbed through the heart.
Moving with caution, I rolled onto my other side. The bed didn’t even creak.
Gregory’s face filled my vision. His hair fell in a mess across his forehead, velvety dark strands tangled from sleep. Stubble shadowed his jaw, thicker than usual. His features were relaxed. No tension around his eyes, no tightness in his mouth.
Reaching out, I brushed the hair from his forehead, then ran my thumb along the rough texture of his jaw.
The stubble scraped against my skin, and my finger drifted higher, hovering over the space between his eyes.
Unable to help myself, I pushed my index finger right into the furrow between his brows.
“So, I died and woke up in a medieval world AGAIN?” I leaned in closer. “This is getting ridiculous, mountain man.”
His lips curved into a smirk before his eyes even opened. He captured my fingers, bringing my knuckles to his mouth. He pressed a kiss there and lingered, but when his eyes finally opened, they were wet.
A single tear escaped, tracking a slow, silvery path through his stubble.
The joke died in my throat. My chest constricted, a sudden, crushing weight that had nothing to do with magic or wounds. He had thought I was gone. Really gone.
My airway seized so fast I couldn’t breathe.
The weight of what I’d almost lost crashed into me all at once. My vision blurred, and a sob broke loose on its own, dragged up from somewhere I didn’t know I’d been holding shut. Then another. And another.
Words refused to form. I couldn’t explain the overwhelming relief or the terror still clinging to my ribs. I was here, alive again when I shouldn’t be.
Gregory drew me against his chest, his touch cradling the back of my head while his other arm wrapped around my waist. His heartbeat thundered beneath my ear.
He tucked my head under his chin, like he intended to weld our broken pieces together. I tucked myself against him and stopped trying to hold it together.
Time seemed to lose its meaning as we remained in that state, long enough for my sobs to lessen and my breathing to stabilize. The pressure behind my sternum loosened, and I finally let my body go slack.
I wiped my face with the heel of my hand, then swiped at my nose like a kid. Gregory’s thumb brushed away a tear I’d missed, and I finally managed to look at him.
“How?” I searched his blue sky eyes. “How am I still here?”
Gregory cleared his throat and planted a kiss on the top of my head, his lips lingering there for a moment. “My fire runs through your blood. We are one.” He guided my fingers against his chest where his heartbeat drummed against my skin.
“The Dragon Lord mark, my mating bite, passed some of my magic to you. You can heal now. There’s nothing in this world that can hurt you beyond repair.
But holy healing magic won’t work on you anymore.
” He looked away, his gaze falling to the scar over my heart.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t… I couldn’t protect you.
I wanted to keep you unmarked, untouched by this world, but I—”
I didn’t let him finish. I clutched his face and kissed him with a desperate hunger, pouring everything I couldn’t say into the press of my lips against his.
When I finally pulled away, we were both gasping for breath.
“I don’t want to talk about any of that right now.” I tipped forward until our foreheads touched. “I just want you to hold me.”
Gregory took his time with my face, those blue eyes traveling over me like he was cataloging every detail he’d been afraid he’d forget. He kissed me again, soft and full of worship.
He rolled us with care, maneuvering until my back was against his chest. His arm slid beneath me, and his fingers splayed wide across my stomach. His mouth found the nape of my neck with a kiss, then another, and his teeth grazed the sensitive skin there until I shivered.
“Wait.” I arched my back, already twisting.
I sat up enough to grab the hem of the oversized shirt and peel it over my head, needing to feel him without any barriers between us. The shirt hit the floor, and I settled back against him, skin to skin, his heat radiating into me like a furnace as I melted into it.
Gregory’s touch traced a slow path up my side, fingertips dragging over ribs and the curve of my waist before sliding lower. He cupped my ass, kneading the flesh there, and then his fingers dipped between my cheeks.
I gasped. My body was already responding, slick and ready for him, hypersensitive to every brush of his fingers.
Gregory rumbled a low, guttural sound against my neck. “You’re already wet for me.”
He slid one finger inside, and I moaned, the sound breaking into a yelp as pleasure shot through me. He worked that finger until I was squirming against him, then added another and another, stretching me and preparing me until I was loose and panting.
There were no words between us. I didn’t want them. I only needed him, needed to feel alive, and needed to know this was real.
Gregory was just as eager. I didn’t have to ask. He repositioned himself behind me, filling the space against my entrance, then he sank inside in one smooth thrust.
A moan ripped from my throat, a wave of peace washing through me that I was alive and here and feeling this. Hot tears streamed down my face again.
Gregory halted, his muscles tensing. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” I shook my head, reaching back for him. “No, I’m just happy. I thought this was a dream, that I’d finally gone mad, but you’re real, and this is real.”
He moved back a little. “I want to see your face.” I whimpered at the loss, but he maneuvered us until I was on my back and he was above me. His grip tightened on my thighs, spreading them wide, and then he was inside me again.
I grabbed his face and pressed my lips to his in a frantic kiss as we moved together, panting and seeking something we both desired.
It didn’t take long. We came together, my body clenching around him as his knot swelled and locked us in place. The sensation stole my breath, overwhelming and perfect, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.
We were one. Truly one.
Gregory rearranged us again, rolling so his back was on the bed and I was sprawled across his chest. His knot kept us connected and joined, and I rested my cheek over his heart.
My fingers traced the new scars on his body, raised lines and roughened skin that hadn’t been there before.
“I thought I was going to lose you.” I traced the edge of a scar. “Mordaine was about to cut your head off, and my only thought was you, saving you. I didn’t want to hurt her. That was never my intention. But I couldn’t bear the thought of a second life without you.”
The words stained my mind.
I’d killed her.
Or maybe I had.
The image flashed through my mind. The tree branch forcing its way through Mordaine’s belly, blood blooming dark across her tunic. The way she’d staggered, purple eyes wide with shock. And Alaric, I’d hurt him too.
Siblings. They were siblings. The Empire had torn them apart when they were children, turned Mordaine into a weapon, and left Alaric broken and consumed by grief. That knowledge settled into me like a bruise that wouldn’t fade. Adam would be devastated.
My sadness went deeper than that. Alaric and Mordaine weren’t the real villains here.
They were victims. The Empire had orchestrated everything, twisted them with lies and loss until they believed the only way out was through betrayal and blood.
The real enemy had always been pulling the strings from the shadows, and we’d all danced to their tune.
And they were still out there.
My stomach turned. The thought made bile rise in my throat.
Then a calming scent washed over me, cutting through the spiral before it could drag me under. Sandalwood and smoke that was uniquely Gregory. He traced soothing circles across my back, sliding lower to my hip.
“Mordaine is alive.” Gregory tucked me closer.
I lifted my head, blinking at him.
“Nicolai.” His mouth twitched, not quite a smile but close enough to count.
“I thought the runt had left us and taken Harren with him, but they were looking for you. He’d left a shadow on Alaric.
The unpredictable bastard knew Alaric was planning on betraying us.
He trapped both Mordaine and Alaric in his shadow realm.
They’re on the way to the Valoren Kingdom to await their fate.
William is taking them with the clerics. ”
Relief punched out of me in one long exhale, leaving me hollowed out and grateful. The slight movement made a moan slip from my lips. Gregory’s knot was loosening.
He gripped my waist tight as he started to slide out. Stopping him, I sank back down onto his length and watched his eyes darken.
“What did Mordaine do to you?” The words escaped before I could think better of them. “I never could have imagined you on your knees like that. It ripped me apart.”
His arm froze, and he stared at the ceiling for a long moment.
“I didn’t want to scare you more than you already were,” he finally said.
“But it was Starlirium. A dark potion made of the same element as the crystal that brought your soul to this world, and the one that can cut my neck. Other than losing you, it’s the only thing that can kill me. ”
Tears spilled before I had any say in it. The truth of it hit me square in the ribs. He’d been dying. Poisoned with the one substance that could end him, and he hadn’t wanted to tell me because he thought I’d be scared.
“That’s not fair.” I choked on a sob. “You can’t keep things like that from me.”
Gregory pulled me closer, his hand sliding from my back to rest against my stomach. The gesture was protective, possessive, and reverent.
“I would do anything to protect you.” His voice fell to a hush. “Anything to protect you and the two little beans growing inside you.”
A sudden chill struck me.
I recoiled to find his gaze. “What do you mean?”
I moved one hand instinctively to my belly, and my eyes grew wide, searching his face for some sign that I’d misheard. “How do you know?” A smile finally broke through the tears.
Gregory’s expression softened into something adoring. “In my dragon form, I can see the truth of souls without using my fire.” He covered my hand with his. “I saw them. Two little lights, right here.”
My lungs forgot what they were doing. Twins. I was carrying twins.
Fresh tears spilled over, but these were different. These were joy and wonder, and overwhelming love for two lives I hadn’t even known existed until this moment.
“Hey, look at me. We still need to go to Adam’s.” Gregory brushed my hair back. “Your mother is staying there, and she’s anxious to see you awake.”
My heart burst at that, and my whole body softened at the thought of seeing Mom, of her knowing I was okay. I felt the burden lift, knowing I hadn’t killed anyone and I could face her without that blood on my hands.
Right now, in this moment suspended between heartbeats, I needed this. Needed him. Needed the weight of his arms around me and the steady rise and fall of his breath against my skin. Because despite everything I’d lost and everything I’d become, I’d found something worth keeping.
Mom would be there when we were ready. The world would remain waiting beyond this room, with all its complications and consequences.
For now, I stayed here, wrapped in warmth and sandalwood, finally understanding what it meant to be home.