Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
But Finn doesn’t seem to share my trepidation about touching. He immediately turns and pulls me into his arms. On a sigh, my whole body goes loose. I fit here. We fit. In so many ways we haven’t let ourselves explore.
He tucks my head under his chin and strokes my back. “This feels like a gift,” he says roughly.
I pull back and look up at him. “What’s that?”
“A night here.” He searches my face, then traces the line of my jaw with his thumb. “A night with you. Where I don’t have to share.”
He dips his head and brushes his mouth against mine. It’s not much as far as kisses go. Could even be deemed as innocent. Friendly. But I recognize it as the prelude it is, and it sends my heart racing. “A gift,” he repeats.
I shiver. The sun is going down, and my fingers are numb from standing here only a minute.
“Come on.” He takes my cold hand in his warm one and leads me back inside.
I sit on our bed, my arms wrapped around my knees, and he shucks his damp outermost layers before settling down onto the bedroll. “May I?” he asks, extending one arm as if he’s about to wrap it around me.
I shiver harder this time, my teeth chattering. “It would be suicide to refuse,” I say, but I’m not kidding either of us. We both know I want his arms around me for reasons that have nothing to do with the cold.
We lie down beside each other, and he pulls the blankets over us before wrapping his arm over my stomach and pulling my back against his chest. My muscles relax against his heat, loosening.
“I never thought I’d be glad to be visiting the Underworld,” he says, his voice gruff as he strokes his thumb across my stomach. “But I’m grateful . . . to be alone. Without him. Where I can pretend you’re mine.”
My heart stutters. I roll so I can see his face. “And pretend you’re mine?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’m always yours. That doesn’t change.”
My stomach flips at the words and how easily he gives them to me. “Maybe it’s not so much pretend in either direction.”
He sighs. “Out there, he’s always between us,” he says. “No matter how well you block, no matter how well you shield, he’ll always feel you on some level. You’ll always feel him. But here . . .” He closes his eyes. “In here it’s just us. Even if it’s just for tonight.”
“It’s not,” I whisper, lifting a hand. His cheek feels like velvet beneath my fingertips. “I want to go to the Waters of New Life. I know you want me to think about it, but there’s not much to consider. I made a mistake when I bonded with Sebastian, and since he’s not willing to free me from the bond, I want to do it myself while I can.” I brush my fingers through his curls. “I want to do it for myself, but I want you, and when the time is right, I want to be able to be free, not just for myself but for us.”
He studies every inch of my face, his eyes glowing in the firelight that reflects off the cavern walls. Brushing the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, he draws in a ragged breath. “How can you be here with me when I’ve done nothing to deserve you?”
“I don’t think love is about what we deserve. It’s an opening of our hearts, not a judgment we make. But Finnian, if I were judging you, I would find you completely deserving of this . . . and more. Your people don’t follow you because of who your father was. They follow you because of who you are. And they’re your friends, not because of what you can offer them. They’re your friends because they know being around you makes them better and makes their life worthwhile.”
“I’ve made terrible mistakes, Abriella.”
“We all have,” I whisper. “But your mistakes are part of who you are, and I don’t mind them so much. I happen to be in love with exactly who you are. And that has nothing to do with this tethering.” I drag my bottom lip between my teeth and search for my courage. “Whatever magical connection we have was what drew me to you that first night we met, but it is who you are and the choices you make that made me fall in love with you.”
He closes his eyes and presses his forehead to mine, drawing in a deep, shuddering breath. “I love you too. I desperately want to show you how much.”
“Then why aren’t you kissing me?” I ask. I barely finish the words before his mouth crushes mine and he rolls me to my back, shifting until his thighs bracket one of my legs.