Page 111 of Forbidden Empire

And after this?

After this, I didn’t think we could ever go back to being adversaries, always pushing and pulling and trying to get the upper hand. Something fundamental had shifted between us.

Deep down. Past skin and bone and muscle. I welcomed it with every part of me. It was right. It was easy. It was…fuck, it was healing.

For the first time, it felt like we were on the same side.

Not just allies in some war against Rhea, either. Something more than that.

I stayed there, stretched out across his chest, rubbing gentle circles over his skin and wishing the night would never end. And for once, I wasn’t scared. Not of Aidon. Not of how I felt.

Not admitting that, maybe I was human after all, and I had needs, and those needs included him and every wild, addictive thing he made me feel.

I wasn’t naive. I knew it wouldn’t be simple. We still had enemies. We still had danger waiting for us, lurking around the next corner. None of that had changed.

But now, for the first time, I could imagine a future that didn’t terrify me.

But these feelings? These emotions zipping between us? No doubt about them. I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. And I had a pretty strong hunch Aidon felt the same way.

A dozen conversations were waiting for us. Maybe more. All those words we’d left hanging in the air, unsaid, would have to come out.

In the back of my mind, I knew I’d have to tell this beautiful man how much I loved him, how much I needed him with me, walking through this insane world. He needed to know what he meant to me. And, hell, I needed to hear it too.

Clarity was important. We couldn’t keep going without saying it. The silent thing was fine until it wasn’t. Left too much space for confusion. For hurt.

Soon, I told myself, but not right now. The time would come when we’d be ready to say it aloud, every single thing that needed to be said.

For now, I was fine just in his arms, floating in the quiet afterglow only our bodies could make together.

I listened to the slow, steady rhythm of his breathing, my cheek rising and falling against his chest. I wondered what he was thinking, but I wasn’t about to ask.

I kept my thoughts locked down and just let the silence settle for a while.

He broke the silence. His voice was so low, it almost didn’t register. I looked up, caught off guard by the emotion shining in his dark, beautiful eyes.

“Esme, this wasn’t about Rhea, was it?” he asked, tone too casual to be casual.

“What do you mean?” I played dumb. It never worked on him. Not anymore.

“This is about us,” he said, all certainty and no hesitation.

I swallowed. Hard.

The words hovered between us, awkward and heavy, and for a second, I almost panicked.

If I agreed with him, what was I copping to? The old Esme would’ve spiraled.

Run a mental lap around this for hours. But that wasn’t me anymore. Not really.

Everything had changed. The space between us crackled with something new, something raw.

Aidon wasn’t trying to win. He wasn’t playing some game or trying to trap me, or prove a point, or rack up some ego points for himself. That part was over. Dead and buried.

We weren’t doing that anymore.

He just wanted the truth. So did I. Funny how easy it was once I admitted it.

So I kissed him.