Chapter 35 It’s Too Late
It’s too late
ZARA
The bath hisses as the herbs meet the scalding hot water, the air thick with the scent of iron and rosemary.
I sink into the water, letting its warmth soothe me as the oils and their fragrances cleanse my skin.
It’s a temporary relief from the magic gnawing at me, trying to lead me where I fear to go.
Even here, surrounded by steam and candlelight, my magic doesn’t feel right.
Whatever’s coursing through me lingers like a poison, pushing and pulling as it burns through my veins, refusing to settle.
I need an antidote and I’d endure any cure, if only to stop the surge of it.
It’s not just the magic anymore. It’s the way it wraps around my thoughts, possessing them, consuming them, threatening to drown me.
I close my eyes, trying to breathe through it, but the links in the ebon chain hold firm. Kade’s presence is a force in itself and I feel him watching me, certain he hasn’t taken his eyes off me. It’s more than that too. I feel us. But something’s shifted, something’s slipped out of alignment.
The bodies in my heavens are moving, and the stars that light my nights have rearranged. I don’t know how to chart my course and I’m lost, sailing under a sky I don’t know without a map to guide me.
My fingers swirl the water and I reach for the edge of the tub, my fingertips grazing the cool stone. It doesn’t ground me and I’m still drifting, still lost in uncertain and unfamiliar tides.
A soft cough sounds like a groan, cutting through the haze of my thoughts.
Kade’s presence is a tether, faint and frayed, but unyielding.
The atmosphere shifts, thickening with a power that I’m certain I can’t escape.
His magic swells until it reaches mine, and the gale inside me becomes less predictable as I’m tossed around on stormy seas.
“You’re quiet, kitten,” he says, his voice a low rumble that reverberates through the room. “This isn’t like you.”
I don’t answer. My throat tightens around any words I try to form, my thoughts too tangled to say anything coherent, anyway.
“I’m drowning. In my magic. In yours. In us.” I open my eyes and watch the ripples move across the water’s surface. “I may as well give up and go under now.”
I glance up at him, and Kade’s storm-dark and searching eyes meet mine. He’s standing at the edge of the room, his shoulders taut, his jaw set. Kade is magnificent, even in the stillness, and I need him to be right now.
“It’s ours, Zara.” He stops, the words catching in his throat and he looks unsure. “You’re not the only one suffering here.”
“Wrong,” I sigh.
“I feel it too.”
His gaze sharpens, the weight of his attention settling fully on me. The bathroom feels smaller now, as if he’s taken up all the oxygen and is all that remains. Kade is inevitable and his soul threatens to shatter something inside mine.
“I don’t want to lose you in this, Zara. But I won’t lose myself, either.”
“Now who’s changing their mind?”
Kade’s expression darkens at my words, and he strides closer to the tub, forcing the air to crackle with tension. It sits heavy, now full of unspoken words and unresolved emotions, while Kade’s hand hovers above the water, a whisper of a touch away from me.
“I’m not changing my mind, Zara.” His voice lowers as he drops his center. “I’m adapting. I’m learning. I cannot let your magic consume me. For your sake, as much as mine.”
I nod and meet his gaze, my eyes mirroring the turmoil dancing through his. The ebon chain wraps around my heart and it pulses in time with its beat, a living thing demanding acknowledgment.
“I will not harm you, but I must protect myself.”
Kade’s hand dips into the water, the ripples from his touch merging with my own.
The warmth of his skin against mine sends a shockwave through me, a jolt of unfamiliarity mixed with an undercurrent of uncertainty.
We’re bound by something more than magic now, something deeper and more dangerous than either of us dared to imagine.
We shouldn’t work, we shouldn’t even tolerate each other, and yet now it feels like we’re meant to be.
“I never wanted to consume you,” I whisper, my words barely audible.
Kade’s jaw clenches, his expression softening slightly as he battles his inner demons.
He’s a nightmare caged in flesh, feral power and careful restraint, and yet here he is, reaching for me as if I’m the one thing that can calm the chaos inside him.
He’s fire and freedom, dangerous and uncontrolled, and I’m the forest he’s setting ablaze.
“We are not meant to be broken,” Kade says, determined and resigned, “We are meant to be Gods among mortals, unyielding and unrepentant.
But Gods are not kind, Zara. Nor are they fair.
We are meant to write the rules, not obey them.
We aren't meant to ask permission, to take what we want, knowing no one can stop us.”
His magic hums and mine sings back, for once finding a harmony that feels in perfect balance.
“Warlocks know their power, and witches are wicked for grasping it, but we are neither. We are more. We do not fear the dark, and we do not flinch from it. There is no good or evil, Zara, only power and those too weak to use it.”
His fingers lace through mine and a surge of power rushes through me.
Magic mingles in a dance of light and shadows, of fire and ice, and death conquers all as skeletons and decaying corpses bow to the power flowing through us.
His light is searing and incandescent as it flares inside me, illuminating the darkest part of my soul as my endless, velvet shadows rise to meet him, swallowing his brightness in a tide that turns soft and playful.
Kade’s other hand rises to cup my face, his thumb brushing against my cheek.
“The darkest night holds the brightest stars, and shadows cannot exist without the light, kitten. The light will always carve a path through the darkness and the sun will always rise. We will endure this and emerge triumphant, and then we will claim what is ours. We will take what we are owed.”
“We will take everything,” I whisper.
His eyes burn with an intensity that steals my breath. “There’s the girl who burns brighter than all the stars together. There you are, kitten. My better demon.”
For a breathless moment, the world narrows to the two of us and the fabric of reality bends toward the brightness radiating from him.
“Kade…” I whisper, unsure if it’s a plea or a warning.
“Zara,” he says, my name a vow on his lips.
Before I can say anything else, his mouth is on mine.
The kiss is searing, a collision of fire and shadow, of desperation and need.
It’s not gentle, but then there’s nothing soft about Kade or the way he claims me.
His hand slides into my hair, pulling me closer as his lips move against mine with an urgency that leaves no room for doubt. Or error.
The water ripples violently, the herbs and oils swirling in their chaotic patterns as the energy we share spills over.
My hands find his shoulder, my fingers pulling at the fabric of his shirt as if holding onto him will keep me anchored.
But there’s no grounding in this moment, no stopping the power we’ve unleashed.
Kade’s light burns bright enough to blind me and I let it, surrendering to him as if he cannot harm me. There’s only us and only this, and I melt into him, merging with him as his kiss deepens and I lose myself, no longer sure where he ends and I begin.
He pulls back slightly, his forehead resting against mine, his breath warm and uneven against my lips. His hands stay on me, one cupping my cheek, the other still tangled in my hair, as if letting go would undo everything we’ve just become.
“I told you,” he murmurs, his voice low and rough. “We are not meant to be broken.”
My back presses down, the coolness of the surface beneath me a stark contrast to the heat still radiating from our bodies.
The bathwater is a memory now, droplets sliding down my skin like fleeting whispers of the moment we’ve left behind.
We’re not in the bathroom anymore, and the starlight blooming around us is as stunning as the symphony of light and shadow that plays to the music of our heartbeats.
The ebon chain pulses and I feel his soul entwine with mine, his magic weaving through the cracks in my own.
“Kade,” I breathe, his name a prayer and a plea. “Where are we?”
His lips leave mine, trailing fire along my jaw, down the column of my neck. I arch beneath him, every inch of my skin alive with his touch. He pauses, his breath hot against my collarbone, and his voice is a dark caress as he answers.
The surrounding starlight reflects in the obsidian depths of his gaze, as though the entire universe resides there, waiting for me to understand.
“This isn’t a place,” he says, his fingers trailing down my arm, leaving a path of tingling warmth in their wake. “It’s us. This is what we are and what we will be. We will be Gods, kitten, and I will worship at your altar as you will worship at mine.”
The words are a promise, a prophecy, and a challenge, all at once.
Before I can respond, his mouth claims mine again, and the world tilts. There is no beginning or end, only the two of us, moving against and with each other, the pulse of our connection an unending symphony. Together, we are infinite, unbroken, and unstoppable.
His kiss deepens, claiming and giving in equal measure, and I’m lost in the feel of him. In the taste of his power mingled with the softness of his lips. Each touch is a vow carved into my skin and he sets me on fire, binding me to him and making me feel alive.
The stars draw closer, spinning in patterns I can’t comprehend as I grind against Kade, desperate for more. Begging for more. We’re not just in this place, we are this place. This magic, this light, this endless night, and I want all of it for him as much as for myself.