49
Finn
It’s damnable magick, whatever these witches have surrounding the Veil.
Absurd, truly, that they’d go to such lengths to stymie an innocent visitor from another realm.
I curse under my breath as I get my third nasty shock. Whatever kind of barrier spell they’ve cast, it does not appear to have any weak points or anywhere I can slip through. At least not unless I want to put myself into a world of pain.
I’m judging whether it might just be worth it to suffer, when a familiar voice calls out to me from the twilight forest.
“Finn?”
“I’m here, sunshine!” My cheeks ache with the force of my smile, with the joy of knowing my mate could feel me just as keenly as I feel her and came here to find me. “I can’t exactly come out and meet you, though.”
“I know,” she says with a laugh as she appears in the clearing. “Sorry. These spells are nasty little bits of Esme’s handiwork.”
“Don’t—” I start to warn her as she reaches the edge of where the invisible barrier begins.
Soleil, however, is unaffected.
She passes right through it, no sign she’s feeling the same ill effects I am.
Still, my heart lurches to see her in danger. I rush over and meet her just at the edge of the clearing, sweeping her into my arms and pulling her away from the magick.
“I’m okay,” she murmurs against my neck. “Really, Finn. Crescent witches are immune to the barrier.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I mutter back, squeezing her even tighter. “I’d want to hold you like this, regardless.”
She lets out a soft laugh, and I finally set her down.
“Are you alright, otherwise? How did things go with your coven?” I’m not sure if I have the right to ask, but not knowing might kill me.
“Things went really well.” A wide, beautiful smile lights up her face. “I spoke to Esme and got her to see reason.”
“Good,” I make myself say, because it is good. It’s great, actually, that she’s getting everything she wanted, everything she’s worked for. “I’m happy for you, sunshine. And I meant what I said before.”
Her brow furrows. “Said about what?”
“I want to be there for you.” The words come in a rush, tumbling forward now with no way for me to stop them. “However you need me. Whatever that looks like. I want to be there, if you’ll have me. I know we don’t have anything figured out, and I know I might not be what you hoped for in a—”
Soleil’s lips meet mine, effectively silencing me.
It’s… confusing, but I’ll never pass up the opportunity to kiss my witch, so I let the rest of my questions melt away.
When she pulls back, her emerald eyes are serious, determined, looking at me in the way that makes me want to stand up straighter and listen.
“You’re everything I could have hoped for, Finn. I hope you realize that. And I can’t tell you how much it means to me to know you’d be there for me no matter what.”
“All I can do is try.”
“Well, you trying means more to me than pretty much anything else in my life.”
I cup my hands around her cheeks, press a kiss to her forehead, her nose, and she breathes a long sigh of relief.
“I’ve poured myself out for this coven for as long as I can remember,” she says quietly. “And sometimes I worry I don’t have enough of myself left to give.”
“Then I’ll fill you up.”
The corner of Soleil’s lip twitches despite the serious tone of the conversation.
“Not like that,” I chide her, then reconsider. “Well, yes, on second thought. Exactly like that. But in all the other ways, too.”
“How do you mean?”
I settle my hands on her hips and move her a few inches away so I can see her properly.
“I’ll live and breathe for you, my mate,” I tell her solemnly.
“When you need rest, I’ll make sure you take it.
When you need someone to handle all of life’s annoying bits so you can focus on your work and on being the talented, wonderful witch you are, I’ll do that, too.
I’ll make you laugh when I can, and protect you and care for you with everything I am. How does that sound?”
Tears gather in the corner of her eyes, and I lift a hand to swipe them away with my thumb.
“That sounds amazing,” she says with a shaky laugh. “And we can figure it all out, right? We have time?”
“Of course we have time. As much as we need. We don’t have to decide our entire future tonight.”
Soleil pauses for a moment, mulling that over, before deciding on her next words.
“I’m going to Ascend,” she says, and my heart sinks.
It’s not unexpected, but it still stings a little, regardless of my commitment to be here for her always.
“Not in the way you think!” she hurriedly assures me. “I’m going to make my own path.”
A smile tugs at the corner of my lips. “I knew you would, sunshine. But I thought you said that would keep you from becoming a priestess.”
She shakes her head slowly. “I got through to Esme, and she’s… different. I think… I think there’s still room for me in the coven, even if it’s not in the way I thought it would be.”
“And you’ll be content with that?” I hate to ask, but need to know. “You won’t be disappointed, or feel you’re missing out, or wish you never met me so you could have—”
“Finn.” She presses her fingers to my lips. “Stop. There’s nothing I’m missing out on because of you. My life is better because of you.”
I pull her into an embrace, savoring her tender words and imprinting them on my heart so they’ll stay there forever.
“And before I Ascend…” Soleil says, a wicked glint in her eye that immediately heats my blood. “I want to be yours.”
“You’re already mine, sunshine.”
She reaches up to bury her hands in my hair and draw my face down to hers. “I want to be fully yours.”
Soleil kisses me, and the whole world lights up.
Every inch of me comes to life with magick and love and desire, until the faint glowing strands of our bond sparkle between us, incandescent in the moonlight.
When she pulls back, Soleil’s emerald eyes glow with that light, with a passion and beauty I’ll have no trouble worshiping for the rest of our long, long lives.
“Make me your mate, Finn.”