Chapter 41 #2
I pulled away and stood, unable to meet his eyes. The nightmare had cracked something open inside me, leaving me raw and vulnerable to fears I’d been trying to ignore.
“Sometimes I wonder…” I trailed off, unwilling to voice the fears for danger of making them true.
“Wonder what?” He shifted behind me, settling in the chair.
Crossing my arms over my stomach, I said, “If you’re only with me because of the bond.
Because your father charged you with protecting me.
Mating bonds don’t require love—just look at my grandparents.
And I don’t know if I could handle it if…
” The words tumbled out in a rush before fading away as I turned and finally met his gaze.
Understanding dawned in his eyes, followed immediately by something that looked like pain. He rose, reaching for my hands. When I pulled back, he settled his palms on my shoulders instead.
“It’s true that my father charged me with finding and protecting you.
He raised me to be a warrior, to follow in his stead as Champion,” he said quietly.
“He had so many quotes about chivalry and how a Champion should act. He had one line that he repeated over and over—‘Chivalry is one man’s attempt to protect one woman from all other men but himself.’ I never knew what that meant until duty brought me to your door.
” His hands slid down my stiff arms, warmth following in their wake.
“And when you appeared in that doorway, duty became irrelevant.” His fingers threaded with mine.
“I saw you and I wanted you like I’ve never wanted anything.
And then you looked at me, with those sea-foam eyes of yours that remind me of home, and I was gone. ”
“But how do you know—”
“Because the bond doesn’t make the choice,” he interrupted firmly.
“We do. Every morning, I wake up and choose you. Every time you drive me absolutely mad with your stubbornness, I choose you. Every night when you snuggle into me, I choose you.” His voice dropped to a whisper.
“What I feel goes deeper than a soul recognizing its match.” His hands framed my face.
“You are mine to hold, mine to cherish, mine to protect.” His eyes blazed.
“And I am yours. Completely, irrevocably yours.”
He sealed the words with a kiss that tasted of promise, and I melted into him with a soft moan of surrender.
“Those sounds you make will be my undoing,” he murmured into my mouth, before drawing away. He furrowed his brow, clenching his palm tight. “Do you remember your first teleporting?”
Vividly. How could I forget? His soul had called to mine across such distance, overcoming all my other senses, and pulled me to him. It was that undeniable connection that had convinced me I could find my way home through time itself by focusing on him.
“I told you then that Ventaris had a thriving metal-working community. What I didn’t tell you was that I was there to get something commissioned. Because I couldn’t get you out of my head. And wanted you desperately to be mine.”
My heart hammered against my ribs as understanding dawned. Did he mean—
He opened his hand, revealing a ring that stole the breath from my lungs.
White gold caught the light like captured starlight, the old language etched along its delicate band in flourishing script.
And the stone… clear yet alive with inner fire, fracturing the limited light into dazzling rainbows dancing over the walls in impossible colors.
I pressed a trembling hand to my mouth, tears blurring my vision. It was the most beautiful thing I’d seen, and he’d had it made. For me. Before we’d admitted we were mates, before we’d even kissed, he had been planning this, dreaming of this, believing in us.
“Griff, I—” The words died in my throat. He wasn’t just offering a ring, but forever. Not just a bond, but love, binding our lives together before the gods themselves, as our souls were bound.
He closed his hand gently around the ring and I almost protested its disappearance.
“I want to vow with you before the gods. To claim you and proclaim to all the world that you are mine. Because you and me, Lexa, this is real. With so much uncertain in this world, the one thing you can be certain of is us.” He tilted my chin up with infinite gentleness, brushing away tears I hadn’t realized were falling.
“And whenever you want that proclamation of undying love that Freya demanded, you let me know. I’m happy to give it in a heartbeat. ”
“I think you just did.” My voice broke on the words, thick with tears and a love so vast I was worried I might explode from the weight of it.
It came to me in a rush that I wanted that forever.
I wanted to be here with him, in our home, for forever.
And that forever was currently in severe jeopardy.
While we sat here, the darkness gathered beyond the Veil, tearing the barrier apart, seeking to destroy everything we’d built.
But our love was the one thing the darkness couldn’t touch, couldn’t corrupt, couldn’t steal.
I held his gaze, drowning in those hazel eyes that held my entire future. “I love you, Griffin Narvene. Completely. Desperately. Forever.”
His hands cupped my face again, and for a heartbeat, he just stared at me like the words had filtered in but hadn’t been processed. Then something shattered in his expression. Overwhelming relief crashing into the fiercest joy. “Say it again,” he demanded, his voice scratchy.
“I love you.”
A sound tore from his throat that was half laugh, half sob, wild with relief.
His hands shook as they threaded through my hair.
“My brave, stubborn, beautiful princess. I love you so much it terrifies me.” Then he crashed his mouth against mine, kissing me like a man possessed, as if he could devour every emotion we’d been holding back.
He broke away, his breathing ragged. “I love you,” he rasped against my lips, the words a vow, a prayer, a promise ripped from his soul. “Whatever happens, I love you.”
I was unraveling, coming apart at the seams. I clawed at him, needing him closer, needing him inside me, needing him to prove this was real. The emotional upheaval of the past several hours had left me raw and starving for him.
Griff was just as unhinged because he stripped my shirt away in a fluid motion, baring my breasts to his hungry gaze. His mouth closed over one peak and I moaned, my fingers threading through his hair to hold him there as I arched against him.
A thunderous knock shattered the moment.
“Not now!” Griff bellowed, his mouth still hot against my breast, his hands gripping my waist.
“You don’t have that choice,” came Kaia’s clipped voice through the door. “Emergency council meeting. Now. And bring the princess. Half the castle is looking for her.”
Reality crashed into us as brutally as if someone had doused us with ice water. Council chamber. War. Death. The weight of prophecies. A realm that needed saving.
We separated with reluctance, our breathing harsh in the sudden silence. My hands trembled as I reached for my discarded shirt. Griff cursed under his breath and tried to make himself presentable, but I was hyperaware of his heated gaze tracking my every movement.
“Lexa.” His voice stopped me. When I looked at him, his expression was fierce, determined. “Remember what I said. Nothing changes that. Not councils. Not wars. Not even the darkness itself.”
I nodded, my throat tight with emotion. I had never felt so alive, so certain of what I was fighting for—a realm, a prophecy, and him. Our future. Our love.
I held on to the idea of that future, of forever with him, with desperate hands as we emerged. Together.