Chapter 20 #3
“I should have done this before you realized,” he murmured.
“Done what?” I asked.
He didn’t answer, but I felt the shift before I saw it in his expression, the subtle falter that passed through him as his unsteady gaze dropped, but with something almost searching, as though he had lost his place in a script he had once known by heart.
I should have stepped back, should have remembered what I knew of him—of this place, of the role he had intended for me within it. But I didn’t. Because despite everything, I still wanted to know which version of him was real.
“Careful,” he murmured, though the word lacked conviction, softened by something far more dangerous than the warning I refused to heed.
My hand lifted between us, not quite touching, but close enough that I could feel his warmth. His gaze followed the movement. For a moment, everything in him stilled, as though even this small distance required effort.
“We can’t,” he pleaded, though whether it was meant for me or for himself, I couldn’t tell.
I didn’t listen. The contact, when it came, was barely more than the brush of my fingers against his cheek, but it was enough.
His breath caught, soft and unsteady. Before I could fully understand what I had done, his hand closed around mine, not pushing me away but holding it there, as though he had forgotten he was meant to resist.
Whatever mask he’d worn fell away in the space between one breath and the next. His other hand rose to my face, not with possession, but with something closer to certainty, as though anchoring himself to the moment before it could slip beyond his grasp.
For a fleeting, disorienting instant, everything else fell silent—the castle, the curse, the fragile illusion of the world around us.
There was only the warmth of his touch, the uneven rhythm of his breath, and the quiet, undeniable truth that whatever this was had never been part of the plan…
which was what made it so dangerous, especially for what it would cost us both.
His gaze dropped to my lips. I barely had a chance to lean towards him in silent acceptance before he closed the distance.
The kiss was not careful or controlled. There was no trace of charm in it, no practiced ease.
Instead it was unguarded, almost desperate in its honesty, as though he had abandoned every version of himself he had used to survive and, for the first time, allowed himself to be nothing more than who he was.
His hand tightened slightly against my cheek, steadying me—or perhaps himself—as the contact deepened, not rushed, but certain.
Warmth unfurled slowly then all at once, sending a quiet, unfamiliar ache through me—something deeper than desire that felt dangerously like belonging, a sensation so foreign to a thief I could scarcely recognize it.
For a single, suspended moment, I forgot everything else—the truth, the cost, and most of all the way this could end.
There was only him. The heat radiating off of him to enfold me, the unsteady catch of his breath, the way the space between us vanished until there was no distance left to guard.
And somewhere beneath it all, the fragile, fleeting certainty that whatever this was had always been real, even if nothing else was.
I should have resisted him. Despite how fiercely I had guarded my heart, he had already stolen it. I should not have let him take more—not after the way he had led me into a trap I was only just beginning to understand.
And yet…if none of this was real but only a dream…then I didn’t want to hold back any longer. I didn’t want to guard myself, or hide the feelings that had been growing inside me from the moment we met. For once, I wanted to live.
I had always imagined a kiss as something strategic—a distraction, a tool, a means to an end.
Something to disarm, to escape, to claim victory.
This was none of those things. There was no calculation in it, no intent beyond the moment itself.
Only the quiet, aching need to remain exactly where I was… with him.
Time seemed to still, the world held at bay as though even the curse itself had paused to allow this reverent moment together. He pulled back just long enough to catch his breath, his forehead resting lightly against mine.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he murmured, but his voice betrayed his longing. “You’ve stolen more than sense—you’ve stolen my heart.”
Something in me gave way completely as my heart expanded with a joy greater than any heist. I yearned to confess that he had done the same—that whatever he had taken from me, he had given back something far more wonderful in return—but the words wouldn’t come.
“Isn’t this a dream?” I managed at last when I finally found the breath to speak.
He brushed a soft, lingering kiss against the corner of my lips. “Some dreams are real.”
Then this was one I never wanted to wake up from. But even as the thought formed, something in me knew—dreams, no matter how beautiful, did not last.
Behind us, the portal suddenly surged. The window I’d seen in the mural earlier was now glowing, beckoning. The hum fractured, splintering into something sharper, more urgent. Light spilled outward from the tiny window, no longer contained. Our chance to delay, to plan, to dream together had ended.
The beautiful moment shattered. I broke the kiss with a sharp breath. “Evander—” I didn’t pull away from him; if anything, I held him tighter, afraid to let go.
“It’s time,” he murmured. His hand tightened around mine then shifted—not holding, but positioning. Understanding came too late.
“No, wait—”
I tried to turn back to him, to cling to him, but he moved faster than I could react, his grip firm as he turned me towards the light, the force of it already beginning to take hold. “It appears you’ve won this round,” he said, his voice low, almost distant. “Or perhaps you were always meant to.”
My heart lurched. “Evander, please—”
He looked at me then. For a single, fleeting heartbeat, I saw him as something whole—neither the man from the dream nor the one before me now, but both at once, unguarded and certain in a way that left no room for doubt.
“You deserve to wake up,” he continued softly, his voice breaking just slightly. “…even if I never do.”
His hand loosened, just enough. The light surged forward—and he let go, allowing the portal to take me back to the real world…leaving him behind.