Chapter 60
Vera
My heart races, but I remain still as his warm finger grazes my skin and gently traces the mark I’ve kept hidden for a lifetime, leaving a warm, tingling trail.
I battle the instinctive urge to spin around, to continue hiding like I always have, but I impulsively offered an invitation…
and he took it. The only thing that moves are the petals of my dress gently fluttering in the lightest of warm breezes.
I rally the confidence gained from the conversation we shared earlier, long looks shared across the table over dinner, and the low light from the moons shining on us… my walls are defenseless against him.
His hand slides from my arm to my waist, and a moment later, my breath hitches as he leans down and kisses my mark so gently my eyes begin to burn.
Tingles race across my skin as the light scratch of a day’s worth of scruff on his jaw brushes the warm curve between my shoulder and neck, where he leaves another slow, soft kiss that sends heat running down my arm.
Another stilted breath when his lips brush my skin again as he makes his way toward my shoulder… I can’t resist any longer.
All at once, I turn, and his arms come around me as his lips claim mine, firm and warm.
My lower back presses lightly against the railing as I cling to his solid waist, and our magic twists and curls around us, mixed with his incredible scent and the strength beneath my hands as they move from his waist to his back.
Our kiss deepens as one of his hands slowly slides from my back and up into my hair, and with it, I let the years of hiding, weeks of wanting, and days of fearing he was gone pour out of me as I pull him closer, all of it replaced with a warmth and confidence I never knew possible.
Here in Ikar’s arms, I feel whole for the first time. Safe. Free.
His other hand cups my cheek, caressing, even as he begins to pull away. In a desperate attempt to match his retreat, I rise to my tiptoes, but he laughs low and rough as he breaks our heady kiss.
“I intend to be a gentleman.”
I know exactly what he means. Those words are both comforting and infuriating when all I want is him.
Instead of backing away and leaving as I fear he’ll do, he enfolds me in his arms and rests his chin gently on my head.
I place my cheek against his chest, pleased to hear that his heart beats as rapidly as mine.
“I love you,” I whisper. I know he’ll hear it. Maybe I should’ve looked in his eyes or said it louder, but the words have already left my lips.
“I love you too.” He kisses my hair, his lips lingering for a moment.
Just to be facetious, I add, “Would you love me if I weren’t a Tulip?”
I feel the growl in his chest. “I already did before I knew you were, and it nearly broke me, imagining living my life with another woman when the only one I wanted was you. My magic wasn’t the only thing you captured with that cuff; you took my heart as well.”
His words remind me of my time in Renton’s camp. “That was a motivation, you know.”
“What was?”
“To escape from Renton. You’re so blasted noble that I knew you’d find another Tulip if you had to… if you lived. The thought of another woman in your arms, just like this, made me sick.”
“It wasn’t the dreams?” he asks, stepping back slightly and ducking his head to find my face in the moonlight.
“The dreams?” My eyes grow wide. “Those were really you?”
My cheeks grow hot as I try to recall if I did anything untoward.
“I didn’t know until the third one, when you asked if I was alive…”
I nod, indicating he should continue.
“But Darvy told me it’s a bond called Never Apart. Some even call it the soulmate bond because of how strong the connection is. It helps you find each other, both in reality and in sleep. Did you ever notice the gold mark is brightest when we’re together?”
He releases one of my arms and tugs my marked wrist from around his waist. I decide to be mature and let him. We hold our wrists up and see the gold shining as bright as ever.
“I’d thought it was some sort of tracking charm… but it’s a soulmate bond?”
“It does work for tracking. I’ve used it to find you, but we didn’t know about the dreams because, for a while, we never spent a night far apart. The days when I was injured—”
“I couldn’t touch you.” He almost died.
He nods. “Until the one that woke me from what soldiers call the sleep of death, one where many pass to the other side of lucent after an injury such as that. I believe you saved me.”
I’m quiet for a long moment as worry builds. It all seems too good to be true; is this the moment it falls apart?
“What happens when it wears off?” I can’t help the tremor in my voice, and I wish for more confidence.
Will he feel the same for me? Did the bond mess with my feelings?
As I think back to that mate bond shop, I remember I already felt for Ikar in ways that had me ready to attempt to convince a criminal to marry me. I’m not worried about mine.
Ikar watches my expression carefully, sensing my concern. “I feel more for you than any mate bond could ever offer, Vera. Watch it wear off, and I’ll show you.”
There’s a challenge in his deep voice. A promise.
It has chills racing lightly across my skin as I look up and meet his eyes.
He seems utterly secure in my feelings for him, but I say it anyway with a bit of sass.
“Back when you were my bounty, I already loved you so much I was going to wait for you to get out of jail. Help you reform your criminal tendencies. I wouldn’t do that for just any criminal. ” I raise a brow.
“Such devotion,” he says wryly. He pulls me tighter against his chest and plants another kiss in my hair.
“You’ll always be my criminal.”
“I’m not a criminal.”
I snicker into his shirt and squeeze him a little tighter. All is right in my world for the first time in my life.