Chapter Twenty-Eight
RIVEN
“No,” she demands. “You’re going to let me heal this.
” I smirk, there she goes, bossing me around again.
“Let me clean it with the water, and then I’ll do a healing spell.
” She looks it over, her hands trembling.
“It’s not that bad, but we shouldn’t let it stay like this all night.
” Her lips are pursed now. Is she…scared?
For me? Because of a flesh wound? I study her face, allowing the truth that has been creeping around the outskirts of my mind for the last few days to fully wash over me.
The truth that bludgeoned me when I saw a pirate attack her.
The truth I can only accept now that she is safe.
Poppy is everything I’ve ever wanted to protect.
Everything I’ve ever wanted to come home to.
And she cares about me.
She looks at me like I’m not broken or too dark or too much.
I’m done.
Fate help me—help her—because I’m hers now.
Maybe I always have been.
“Let’s get all the way in. The water has healing properties and relaxing properties, and I, for one, could use the latter.
” I follow her order blindly, my mouth dry and my own hands shaking now that I’ve come to this irrevocable conclusion.
We shrug off a few tattered layers until only our undergarments remain and enter.
Steam wraps around my ankles as I step into the spring, the water warmer than the night air by a startling degree.
It slips over my skin like silk, heat soaking into muscles that are only now realizing how hard they’ve been braced since the fight.
The mineral scent rises softly with the mist. By the time the water reaches my waist, the tension in my body begins to ebb away, the quiet hush of the secluded basin wrapping around us like the world beyond has all but fallen away.
I watched her with rapt attention, shadows lingering over my shoulders as if they too wanted to watch her magic at work.
A soft glow pulses from her palms, and the wordless mouthing of words sends water wrapping around my wound like a bandage.
Heat radiates from my arm, skin stitching painlessly together under her watchful eye and adept hand.
When it’s done, she looks up at me, as if making sure no other injuries have gone unnoticed. And seeing the care in her eyes, that’s what causes the dam to break.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
Her brows furrow, and the water ripples as she takes a gentle step back. “Like what?”
“Like I’m worth choosing.” I look up, bracing for the words before they leave me. Emotional intimacy is harder than hand-to-hand combat by a long shot. “Worth helping.”
“You are.” Her gentle smile is nearly my undoing. “Always have been.”
“Poppy,” I breathe out. “I’ve been an idiot.
” My heart is racing. Here it comes. The confession that will change everything.
I know Poppy admitted to wanting me with the aid of the truth serum, and I think that admission embarrassed her, if the silence after was any indication, but wanting to be with me was a different thing entirely.
A thing no one else had ever wanted. Not for long anyway.
“Riven, you don’t have to—”
“No.” My hands tighten into fists at my sides, the warm water sloshing between them. “Let me be brave once.”
A confused smile slightly pulls up the corners of her lips. “You’re always brave.”
“Not like this.” I grab her hands, holding them in mine beneath the water.
Here goes nothing.