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My cheeks grew warm. “Well, yes.”

“Then I want someone imperfect. So we can grieve at our own weaknesses. And perhaps strengthen each other, too.” She tipped her head, her dark hair falling in a beautiful wave down her shoulder. “Will you accept me, then? Will you look at my flaws and love me anyway?”

“Gods, yes.” I grabbed the lapels of her coat and pulled her close for a deeper kiss.

After another and another, she slowly reclined on her elbows until she rested her head in my lap. When I brushedthe hair from her brow, her eyes drooped shut. She looked more serene than I’d ever imagined.

She felt that way with me.

“There,” she whispered. “This is my dream.”

For so long, Lope had been watching over me. Constant vigilance, constant fear. To see her be so still and so at peace was a sweeter gift than I could imagine. Divorced of the pain and the fear, she was simply a girl. A beautiful girl, who I loved.

I wanted days and days like that for her. I wanted her to rest under millions of stars or on a gently rocking boat or in a meadow in some distant forest.

But like all moments, this one had to end.

“I’ll go,” she said. “And I’ll miss you every day.”

Together, we left that shore.

I prayed one day we’d see another.

Just before we joined the group waiting for us, Lope drew me into an embrace—and then whispered in my ear.

“The girl I love,

Worth more than a thousand crowns,

Than all the kingdoms,

Beyond precious

Is the one my soul calls its own.

You are my own,

My own,

Let my heartbeat ever call it so.”

A poem. A poem just for me.

“Thank you,” I breathed.

We parted from our embrace, and she kissed me again, brief but firm. “I will write to you,” she said. “I will burn letters to you and send them here below. And the Shadow King—he could share your messages with me when I pray.”

I traced my finger along her cheekbone. “I wanted you to experience a lifeawayfrom me.”

“And I think that’s nonsense.” She smiled. “Some distance, I can allow. But I cannot live as though you do not exist. We have spent so many years choosing our words carefully and hiding our hearts. If I am to leave you, even for a moment, I will reach for you, no matter what. I want to hear all your thoughts, even when I cannot see you.” Her shoulders sagged, and she sighed, making a lock of hair on her forehead flutter. “I think that’s the most forthright I’ve ever been.”

I squeezed her hand. “I quite like it.”

Hand in hand, we approached the king of Shadows.

“Are you ready to return?” he asked in his sweet, soft voice, nothing like how a monster’s voice should be.

“Not quite,” I said. “I would like to make a bargain with you.”