Chapter 57 #2
“If I’d told her, it wouldn’t have been real.
The laws of our existence aren’t suggestions I get to ignore when they’re inconvenient.
” He spreads his hands. “Be grateful someone still remembers how this works. It’s been thousands of years since one of us was stupid enough to soulbond with a human, and the realm rejected her.
The last thing I needed was to put down another grieving, destructive Eternal. ”
He fixes me with an assessing look, gaze skating over my new wings.
“One more thing.” He holds out his hand, and the box I took from Nyholm materializes in his palm.
“The seal inside releases the Wolf from his collar. Put the crystal right to his chest. When his power detonates, your bond is going to need attention.”
“What kind of attention?” I ask.
“The kind that keeps you in bed for a week. So pick furniture you don’t mind destroying.”
Heat floods my cheeks. “Oh.”
“I’m sure you’ll both have a lovely time.
” His red eyes flick between us. “One last piece of advice from someone who’s lived a very long life: cherish what he’s giving you.
An Eternal doesn’t bare their wings to just anyone.
That’s the kind of trust that can shatter realms. You fought for this.
Bled for it. Died for it. Don’t let anyone take it from you. ”
With a final nod, he turns and strides toward the towering double doors at the edge of the arena sands.
But Evander’s voice rings out. “Wait.”
Alexios pauses, glancing over his shoulder.
Evander pushes to his feet. “You gave me a gift I can’t ever hope to repay.
” He closes the distance to Alexios. “A chance to keep my Chosen. To fly with her, to love her, to build a life with her in all the ways I never thought I’d get to have.
And I owe you for that. More than I could ever put into words. ”
Then he seizes Alexios by the throat and slams him into the nearest wall. Stone fractures under the impact.
“But you tortured her.” Evander’s other hand draws back and punches straight through Alexios’s stomach.
The wet sound of tearing flesh echoes through the arena.
“So if you ever so much as look at my woman again, I’ll spend the next millennia finding new ways to rearrange your insides.
Never speak to her again. Keep her name out of your fucking mouth. ”
A slow smile spreads across Alexios’ face, and he lets his head fall back. “Message received, Wolf.”
“Then get out.”
Evander rips his fist free.
Alexios smirks, pressing a palm to the gaping wound in his abdomen. I watch as the flesh knits together beneath his splayed fingers.
Then he’s gone, walking through the double doors without a backward glance.
For a moment, there’s only the rasp of Evander’s breathing. His hand and forearm are drenched in gore. The soft drip-drip-drip of blood hits the ground. He just stands there in the torchlight, chest rising and falling with each unsteady inhale as he stares at the red sand at his feet.
“Evander. Look at me.”
Slowly, so slowly, he turns, and the expression on his face…
Stripped bare. Flayed open and vulnerable in a way I’ve never seen from him before.
“When I stood in the ruins of my home, a part of me died,” he whispers. “There’s no fixing that kind of grief. It just… hollows you out. Leaves you empty. But you got under my skin. You burrowed so deep that the thought of breathing without you was impossible. Because you’re my heart.”
He curls his fingers into his palm and shuts his eyes briefly.
“I lost you.” A broken whisper, so soft I have to strain to hear it.
“For a minute there, I lost you, and it was like being in the wreckage. Like watching everything burn all over again. I didn’t care if I lived or died because what’s the point?
What’s the point of eternity if you’re not in it? ”
Something twists in me, sharp and painful. I’ve seen him angry. I’ve seen him vicious. But this… this grief is new. And it hurts.
He returns to my side, his clean hand trembling as it finds my face. “You can’t do that again,” he says. “You can’t leave and expect me not to follow. If you die, I die. That’s how this works now.”
I kiss his palm, my vision blurring with tears. “I won’t. Promise.”
His attention drifts to my wings. Slowly, almost reverently, he reaches out to trail his fingers along the oversensitive arch of my wing, wringing a soft, involuntary noise from my throat. Too sensitive. Too much.
“Shhh,” he soothes, continuing his exploration. “They’re so beautiful, all white and gold. How do they feel?”
I blow out a slow breath. “Heavy.”
“We’ll train the muscles. Build your endurance and your pain tolerance.” His head dips, and he presses an open-mouthed kiss to where my wings meet the skin. “I’ll work this body until it sings for me.”
“It already does,” I whisper.
A helpless shiver rolls through me, and I know he feels it. We sway into each other, foreheads pressed together as we just breathe, relearning the shape of this. Of us.
After a small eternity, he withdraws, and his gaze strays to the box in my hand.
“Ready?” I ask him.
“Born ready, nemesis.”
I lift the latch, and the lid falls open to reveal a glowing yellow crystal.
My attention cuts back to Evander’s in a silent question. At his nod, I lift it free.
“So I just… put it on you?”
He laughs. “Just”—his hands close over mine, guiding the seal above his heart—“like this.”
The crystal makes contact with a flare of light and sinks beneath his skin.
Searing light explodes around us. His power lashes against me, a concussive wave of energy that rattles the arena and sends fissures through the stonework.
But I barely register the destruction. Can’t focus on anything beyond the way our bond fractures open, flayed nerve endings and endless hunger. A need so visceral that I feel it in every part of me.
That inhuman part of me, so newly woken, utters a soft purr of recognition. It knows this power, this wildness. The scent of him.
Then he lunges, crushing his mouth to mine in a kiss that tastes of blood and victory. Of possession. It’s the drag of his tongue against mine and the sharp nip of teeth. It’s wildfire singing through my veins.
His magic spreads beneath my skin. Power and life and ancient, nameless things. Sensation and memory collide—the incandescent truth of it. Of him. Of this impossible, inviolable thing between us.
It feels like finally exhaling after a lifetime underwater. It feels like surfacing.
It feels like coming home.