I cleared my throat, hoping I could at least make it out of his room before falling apart. ‘I’ll leave you to get some rest,’ I stammered, my voice sounding as hollow as I felt. Lincoln ignored me, and I looked up in time to see him push the door closed, and turn the lock.
He paused, still facing away from me, his palm pressed flat against the door. ‘I won’t go back again,’ he said, his voice gravelly but also threatening in its own way.
Slowly he turned to face me, while I processed the fact that he was here, the meaning of his words, the locked door. His eyes fixed on mine and burned with such intensity I almost couldn’t get the words out. But I did. ‘Neither will I.’
His eyes narrowed as if he didn’t believe I was lucid. He took a cautious step towards me. ‘Say you want this.’
‘I want this.’
‘Say you need us as much as I do.’
‘More.’
‘Impossible,’ he said instantly. He took in a sharp breath. Another step. Our feet were toe to toe.
‘This will be for life. For eternity, human and beyond. More than any commitment, than any marriage. Violet, are you ready to marry me?’
I swallowed, trying to catch my breath, because he was so close. So close to touching me. ‘As long as we’re together, I’m ready for everything.’
Breathing hard, he leaned in, our lips almost touching, his fingers moving through my hair as his hand wrapped around the back of my head. ‘Tell me you’ll never run away from me again.’
He wasn’t asking me to promise nothing bad would ever happen or that I would walk away from every battle. We knew those promises could not be made.
‘Never,’ I swore, and then I voiced the words that neither one of us could ask the other for. ‘I forgive you,’ I said, relinquishing every last piece of me.
His eyes seemed to soften and intensify at the same time.
‘I forgive you, too,’ he said, right before he pulled me closer, his lips crashing into mine. My cold soul shuddered with desire, and hope filled me for the first time in two years.
Somehow I managed to pull back enough to confess, ‘I’m not sure it will work. I don’t know if I can ever be okay again. You need to know what you might be signing up for. My soul … the coldness … it might be too late. It—’
He put a finger over my lips, silencing me.
‘How about you let me worry about that? You might be able to do a lot of extraordinary things. But, baby,’ he smiled knowingly, ‘I was made for you and I’m about to find all the little pieces. I’m going to search your entire body. Every. Single. Inch.’ His smile grew just as my heart started to seize. ‘And I’m going to build the world a queen.’
And then he set about doing just that.
He kissed me thoroughly, lifting me gently onto his bed. First he opened his power to me, pushing at me softly and encouraging mine to work with his and heal my external injuries.
‘Relax,’ he ordered, his lips never leaving my mouth. I pulled him tighter and let my power go.
He took it all, controlling and manipulating it until we were surrounded by our powers misting the room and it felt like floating in a sea of purple rimmed with green.
Gradually, our clothes disappeared and when Lincoln abruptly stood up I panicked, but he grabbed my hand, pulling me with him and walked us into the bathroom, where he proceeded to wash all the blood from me. He took his time, and when he was certain I was blood-free he dried me off, towelled himself down, and took me back to bed.
Lying on our sides facing each other, he swept the hair off my face and held it back as he pressed his forehead against mine.
‘You have to drop your shields. You have to let me in.’
I grinned mischievously. ‘That was the plan.’
He mirrored my grin but his eyes remained serious. ‘Everywhere. You have to drop your walls completely.’
My smile quickly disappeared and I started to shuffle back, but he held me tight. ‘You don’t understand, I can’t …’
His hand cupped my face. ‘Trust me.’
Oh, holy crap.
Tentatively, I started to lower my shields.
Lincoln shook his head, his powerful gaze never leaving mine as he said again, with more emphasis. ‘Trust me.’
I do.
My shields crashed down around me and I cried out in pain, tears pouring from my eyes. My body convulsed and I started to panic, but Lincoln’s hold was firm and he held me down. ‘Look at me!’ he demanded.
My eyes flashed up even as I screamed again and then he leaned down and he spoke into my ear. ‘I love you. Hold on.’
And that’s exactly what I did. I screamed as my soul’s damage was finally and fully exposed for the first time since that night two years ago. I felt Lincoln’s agony that this was what I’d become and I wanted to console him, to tell him I understood. That I forgave him, but the pain was so intense I could only scream.
Piece by piece, he tended to me, his power working its way through me, trying to calm me. Finally, I managed to get enough control that he leaned down and risked a kiss. He must have felt confident I wasn’t going to bite his tongue off, because the kiss deepened and I felt small sparks of fire ignite in my body. Sparks of life.
‘More,’ I said, gasping.