Chapter 57
Chapter Fifty-Seven
T he sun hung low in the sky, casting a molten glow across the clearing, where the grass still shimmered with droplets from the stream.
The air was thick with summer’s breath—floral, heavy, and humming with the last traces of magik still sparking in my veins. Insects buzzed lazily through the warmth, and somewhere in the distance, birdsong drifted through the trees, soft and haunting.
Somehow, Maalikai had managed to disentangle me and carry me to the shore without me having to lift a finger. Now, I lay stretched across the grass, the scent of damp earth and wildflowers curling around me as I stared up at drifting clouds.
Everything was tranquil. Serene.
Perfect—no, beyond perfect.
Maalikai lay next to me, hands folded beneath his head, ankles crossed, now also half dressed.
This was the man who had picked up the shards of my heart and held them tenderly until I healed. He never tried to fix me—just loved me until I remembered how to love myself. That kind of love? It was everything.
I reached over and traced the birthmark on his chest—a perfect wolf, etched by fate. I looked at my wrist, seeing the perfect formation of a wolf howling, a scar identical to his and my chest tightened.
This was it–the moment I’d been waiting for. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a tiny box, wrapped in brown paper and twine.
Maalikai’s eyes sharpened with curiosity. “What's that?"
“Open it,” I implored.
He looked stunned. “This is for me?”
I nodded. “I wanted you to have something special. A piece of me. To show my love.”
He unwrapped the package with infuriating care, like each corner held sacred meaning. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grabbing it out of his hands and ripping it open for him.
When he finally peeled back the paper and stared at the small box, he froze.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to keep it,” I mumbled, the words slicing through my ribs.
His sapphire gaze snapped to mine, blazing. “How could you think I wouldn’t want something from you?”
I shrugged, trying to play it like it was nothing, but in fact his hesitation was making me crumble. “I don't know. You were hesitating. I thought maybe you didn’t want to hurt my feelings, if you didn’t like it.”
He leaned in, nose nearly brushing mine. "I’m hesitating because everything about you wrecks me. I know once I open this, I won’t be the same. I’m supposed to be the strong one, but you make me vulnerable."
“Maalik… I didn’t mean?—”
“Don’t you dare apologize.” He kissed me like the sky was falling. “Now. Let’s end your torture.”
He opened the box. For a breathless moment, he just stared. Then, delicately, he lifted the ring. Its dark metal gleamed against his skin, the ruby nestled in its center catching the light like living flame.
“Is this...?”
I nodded. “The ruby from my bracelet. Well, half of it.”
It burned in the sunlight, bold and beautiful.
“I can’t accept this. That bracelet was a gift from your parents. I could’ve fixed it.”
“It would never be the same. The chain was destroyed. But this—this is a new legacy. One that belongs to us. You have my heart, Maalik. I wanted you to have something to symbolize just how deep that love runs.”
His mouth met mine in a kiss that was more emotion than action. When words failed him, he clung to the only language he knew—me. Then he pulled back, resting his forehead to mine.
“Son of a bitch.”
“What?”
Instead of answering, Maalikai rummaged through his bag. When he turned, his hands were cupped tightly together, hiding something.
“Maalik?”
He grinned. “I took advantage of your day with Sebastian yesterday."
My eyes stole his. "What do you mean?"
He took my hand, slowly uncurling his fingers to reveal a lilac shell—iridescent and glistening like a secret.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathed. “Where did you find it?”
“When I was a boy. In Opalcrest Cove, with my uncle.” He pressed the shell into my palm. “Open it.”
I looked closer. It was two shells, fused at the base like a locket. When I gently pried them apart, the interior shimmered with pink and violet. Opened fully, it formed the wings of a butterfly.
Nestled in the center was a ring. Not just any ring. The gold band was smooth, simple. But the stone—it stole the air from my lungs. Ocean hues of turquoise, deep sea green, and pale storm blue swirled within an uneven sliver of raw opal.
“Maalik, this is beautiful?—”
“It belonged to my mother,” he said softly. “The only thing of hers I ever had.”
Recognition dawned. “From your necklace?”
He nodded. “Maalik, I can’t—” He dropped to one knee. “When I saw your uncle, I asked for his blessing.”
I froze. “His blessing for what?”
He took my hand, voice steady and full.
“Emylia Isabelle Wynterthorne, I can't imagine a single day without you.” Tears blurred my vision. My breath hitched. He brushed a thumb over my cheek. “Please don’t cry.”
“I can’t,” I whispered. “I can’t say yes. It would break Sebastian.”
Maalikai stilled, every muscle pulled tight. “You’ve made your choice?”
“Yes.”
The light in his eyes flickered out–snuffed out like flames being doused in water.
“You’ve chosen him,” he said, voice raw.
“No.”
His gaze snapped to mine–collided with it like a crumbling star, full of heat and ruin and gravity I couldn’t outrun.
“You’ve chosen me?”
“Yes.”
For a heartbeat, nothing.
Then he moved—close enough that I could feel the heat rolling off him in waves.
His hands framed my face, almost trembling, like he couldn’t believe I was real. Like he thought touching me too hard might shatter the moment.
“Say it again,” he breathed, voice cracking.
“I chose you.”
A broken laugh tore out of him—half joy, half disbelief. He pressed his forehead to mine, exhaling like he’d been drowning and I was air.
“Gods, Princess…” His thumbs brushed over my cheeks. “You have no idea what that does to me.”
Then his lips crashed against mine.
Desperate. Devout. Like a prayer he didn’t know he’d been holding inside for years. Like he was finally allowed to want me without apology.
And I kissed him back—because there was nothing else I could do.
Not when his joy tasted like redemption.
Not when his hands held me like I was the answer to every war he'd ever fought.
He broke the kiss, breathless, forehead pressed to mine.
His world unfurled in a whisper– “Then don’t take this as a proposal. Take it as a promise.” His voice softened. “A token of my love. No matter what happens. It yours when you’re ready. Not a second before.”
My heart cracked wide open. “I can’t,” I breathed. “I can’t take something that means this much to you—when I might not be able to give you everything in the way you deserve.”
“What do you mean?”
A stuttered breath escaped me. “Just because I’ve chosen you doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving him. When I give you my heart, it may not be whole, he may still have some of it.”
“You’ve already given me everything I need,” he said quietly. “Maybe not in the way you want. But I don’t need all of you to love you. Even if I only get a piece of your heart… it’s still the part that’s mine.”
I looked at him—and it hurt.
Gods, it hurt.
Because he was offering me his whole world, and I… I could only give him a sliver of mine. A fraction. A maybe. And it felt like failure. He deserved more. And yet, he still looked at me like I was everything.
“Take it,” he said, pressing the shell into my hands. “Take it as proof. That no matter what, my heart is yours.”
A sob caught in my throat. “I don’t deserve you,” I whispered.
“Too late,” he said with a crooked smile. “You’ve already got me.”
I pulled him into a kiss, urgent and breathless. He slid the ring onto my finger—but paused. “What’s this?”
Realizing what he was asking about, I tried to pull away, but he was too quick. He caught sight of the faint scar on my wrist. “What happened?”
“I... branded myself. Accidentally. When I was finishing your ring. Evie bumped into me.”
“That’s what you were doing the other night?”
I nodded.
His laugh rumbled through him. “You branded yourself with a wolf?”
“Not on purpose.”
He stared at it, awe softening every angle of his face. “It matches mine perfectly.”
I straddled him with a smirk. “You aren't going to let me hear the end of this are you.”
“Your clumsiness has always brought me immense pleasure.”
My lips claimed his again. Deeper. Wilder.
This time, there were no words. Just us. Fire and magik and eternity wrapped into one another.
Maalikai rolled me onto my back, his body blanketing mine. But this time wasn’t like before.
This time, it was different.
Irrevocable.
Forever.
This was a man giving everything.
This was a girl breaking beneath the weight of a love she might never be able to fully return. But choosing it anyway.
His hands moved over me with aching reverence, committing every breath, every scar, every fragile part of me to memory. Like he could fuse us together if he just touched deep enough. Long enough.
His mouth trailed fire down my throat, and I gasped as his skin met mine—heat to heat, heart to heart. The world melted away.
No fear.
No teasing.
No walls.
Just this.
Just us.
Because we both knew…
This was forever.
We moved like two souls collapsing into each other—slow, reverent, devastating. He filled me like he was trying to write his name into my bones. And I let him.
Because I didn’t know how to say you are my everything in words.
So I said it in the way my fingers threaded through his hair. In the way my breath hitched when he said my name. In the way my hips met his like I could press the truth of us into the earth itself.
Our bodies moved in rhythm with the last light of day—soaked in sweat and starlight, tethered only by what we couldn’t say. And when I finally shattered around him, it wasn’t just from pleasure.
It was from knowing I had found my perfect half.
When he followed, his release a gasp and a prayer, I felt it—his soul curling into mine. And I knew… I would never belong to anyone the way I belonged to him.
He had me.
All of me.
Forever.