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Malrik

I’ve never seen her like this.

Wrapped in shadow and grief, water swirling with the remnants of magic that shouldn’t exist—ice crystallizing in patterns that mirror her pain while darkness writhes beneath the surface.

She’s pulled power from our bond without meaning to, Aspen’s frost bleeding through her desperation, and the sight of it stops my heart.

She needs anchoring. Not answers.

I don’t hesitate. Don’t call out or ask what happened. The devastation radiating from her through our connection tells me everything I need to know—someone hurt her, broke something precious, and left her drowning in doubt.

I wade into the lake fully clothed, boots squelching in the mud, expensive fabric soaking through as I drop to my knees in front of her. The water is freezing where her borrowed ice magic touched it, but I don’t care. She’s curled in on herself like she’s the only thing keeping her pieces together.

“I don’t know if I’m meant for any of you,” she whispers, her voice raw and broken. “But I need you right now. ”

The words hit me like a blessing and a curse all at once. She needs me. Not because of fate or bonds or ancient magic, but because in this moment, I’m what she’s choosing.

“Kaia,” I breathe her name like a prayer, like an answer to questions I’ve been asking my whole life.

I open my arms, and she comes to me.

The relief is staggering. She melts against my chest, trembling not with cold but with aftershock, and I wrap her in every piece of strength I have. My shadows reach for hers instinctively, twining together until I can’t tell where mine end and hers begin.

“I’m here,” I murmur against her hair, tasting lake water and salt tears. “I’m here because I want to be. Not because of the bond. Not because of duty.”

She pulls back just enough to look at me, violet eyes swimming with unshed tears. “How can you be sure?”

I cup her face in my hands, thumbs brushing away the water that clings to her cheeks. “Because when I saw you slip away from camp, something in me knew you needed space. Because when I heard you scream, I didn’t hesitate. Because you’re not just my fate, Kaia—you’re my choice.”

Our foreheads touch, breath mingling in the space between us. Her shadows swirl gently around my arms, welcoming rather than defensive, and something in my chest unlocks.

“Malrik,” she whispers, and then her mouth is on mine.

This isn’t like our other kisses—tentative, testing, careful. This is raw desperation, her lips parting under mine like she’s drowning and I’m air. I slide my fingers through her wet hair and kiss her back with all the want I’ve been holding back .

“I’ve waited so long for this,” I whisper against her mouth, tasting the truth of it. “Don’t stop.”

“I won’t,” she breathes, and her hands find the buttons of my soaked shirt.

I watch her fingers work, trembling slightly as she pushes the fabric aside. When her palms press against my chest, skin to skin, the bond flares with something deeper than magic.

Recognition. Completion.

“Kaia,” I say, my voice rougher than I intend. “If I touch you like this, I won’t stop.”

Her eyes meet mine, clear and certain despite the tears. “Then don’t.”

I strip slowly, every movement deliberate despite the urgency thrumming through my veins. She watches me with an intensity that makes my skin burn, her gaze mapping every scar, every line of muscle, like she’s memorizing me.

When I’m finally bare before her, she reaches out to trace the shadow mark that curves along my ribs—the royal brand that marked me as heir to a fallen realm. Her touch is reverent, careful, like she understands what it cost me to let her see it.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispers, and I have to close my eyes against the force of hearing her say it.

I lift her from the water, carrying her to where the boulder extends above the surface, creating a natural shelf warmed by the day’s sun. She shivers as the cool air hits her wet skin, but I’m there to warm her, my mouth finding hers as I lay her back against the smooth stone.

“Let me be yours,” I whisper against her collarbone, tasting lake water and something uniquely her. “Just for tonight. ”

Her fingers thread through my hair, tugging my mouth back to hers. “You already are.”

I worship her with my mouth first—the hollow of her throat, the peak of each breast, taking time to lavish attention on the sensitive spots that make her gasp and arch beneath me. When I trail kisses down her stomach, she trembles, her hands fisting in my hair.

“Malrik,” she breathes, and the sound of my name makes my chest tight with want.

But it’s when my shadows join the exploration that she truly comes apart.

They wind around her thighs, cool and weightless, caressing places my hands can’t reach while my mouth finds more sensitive territory.

The contrast of sensations—warm lips and tongue, cool shadow-touch—has her crying out, her spine arching as pleasure builds.

“I need—” she starts, but the words dissolve into incoherent sounds as my shadows tease and my mouth worships. She’s trembling, so close, her magic responding by sending her own shadows to twine with mine in patterns of pure sensation.

When she breaks apart the first time, it’s with a cry that echoes across the water, her body clenching around the shadows that have been driving her to madness. I hold her through it, kissing her inner thigh, her hip, working my way back up her body as the aftershocks fade.

“More,” she whispers when she can finally speak, her hands reaching for me desperately. “I need more. I need you .”

The first press of her body accepting mine steals both our voices. She’s slick and ready from her first release, but still tight around me, her body stretching to accommodate me inch by inch. I have to still completely, buried halfway inside her, fighting for control .

“You feel incredible,” I groan against her neck, my entire body shaking with the effort of not moving. “So perfect around me.”

She rolls her hips, taking me deeper, and we both moan at the sensation. “Don’t hold back,” she whispers, her nails digging into my shoulders. “I want all of you.”

We find our rhythm in the gentle current—slow and deep at first, learning the feel of each other. I angle my hips, searching until I find the spot that makes her breath stutter, and I focus there, each thrust deliberately driving her higher.

Water swirls around us as we move together, our shadows dancing beneath the surface like extensions of our pleasure. The bond builds between us with each movement, each kiss, each desperate touch—not overwhelming, but inevitable.

“Touch yourself,” I whisper against her ear, my voice rough with need. “I want to feel you come around me.”

Her hand slips between us, fingers finding that sensitive bundle of nerves while I continue to move inside her. The sight of her pleasuring herself while I’m buried deep makes my control fracture, my movements becoming more urgent.

“That’s it,” I breathe, watching her face as she climbs toward release. “Let me feel you.”

She comes apart with a cry that cuts through me, her body clamping down on me so tight I follow her over the edge, spilling myself inside her as the bond locks with quiet certainty.

The sensation overwhelms everything else, not just physical release, but the perfect fit of our connection finally settling into place .

I draw her into my arms like she’s always belonged there, our bodies spent and breath still shallow. Her shadows drift around us lazily, no longer chaotic but content, swaying like they’re singing lullabies I can’t hear.

“Are you all right?” I murmur against her temple.

She nods, pressing a kiss to the hollow of my throat. “Better than all right.”

I hold her tighter, memorizing the weight of her in my arms, the way her breath feels against my skin. Whatever hell is coming for us—whatever forces are moving in the dark—I’ll carry this moment into the fire.

She chose me. Not fate, not ancient magic, not bonds forged in desperation.

Me.

If this is the only time I ever get to be hers completely, then it’s enough. I’ll hold this night like a treasure, proof that once, in the space between one heartbeat and the next, I was exactly where I belonged.

And she was mine.