Page 72 of Reign of the Talon
The door appears, but before he can step through it, I launch myself out of bed and tackle him. Without my immortal strength, I don’t expect to make much of an impact…but I take him by surprise and he stumbles. We fall to the wooden floorboards with a crash loud enough to shake the trees outside.
Rui’s breath leaves him in a rush of disbelief while I glower down at him.
Explain yourself, I demand, worry making my head ache. Rui is one to make rash decisions, and if he is preparing to rush headlong into something he is not ready for…
Is it a trick of the firelight, or is that a hint of his old mirth dancing across his face, there and then gone? His expression does look softer, the stress lines barely visible as he gazes up at me. My hair falls like a waterfall around us.
Rui, I prompt.
“It’s an entirely benign idea,” he murmurs.
You said—
“Completely harmless,” Rui rasps as he brushes a strand of hair out of my face, and suddenly I’m acutely aware that I am lying atop him, on his chest. That I can feel his heartbeat, slamming wildly against his ribs, that I can feel the warmth radiating off him, through his armor. His arms slowly, hesitantly, come up to hold me against him—as if cradling a bird with broken wings.
I don’t roll away. Not this time.
I…can’t.
Because in this moment, with the snow drifting outside the window, and the fire popping, crackling in its hearth… In this moment, nestled against him, he feels like home.
In this moment, I know that what he, and what Gameunjang, said is true. That we, the two of us, are soul-stitched in love. He may be soul-stitched to the Prophecy in hatred, but betweenus, it is something so different.
“Lina,” he rasps, and I know that he felt it, my sudden hesitancy. “Please,” he begs.Begs. “Please, don’t leave me again. Not when I’ve only just found you.” The desperation in his voice is raw, bleeding with fear and hope. Rui’s grip around me tightens, as if he is frightened I will be ripped away from him once more, hidden in another secret corner of an unfathomable realm, nothing but a ghost of myself.
Yet on my skin, Gameunjang’s key is warm. The small dongsimgyeol charm is a reminder, given by Fate herself. That perhaps I am worthy of him after all.
“You don’t need to feel guilty,” he whispers hoarsely, knowing precisely what I am feeling. “Not with me. Never with me. This…” Rui shakes his head. “What we have, little thief…it’s ordained by destiny itself. This isright. Tell me that you don’t feel it, too. Tell me and I will leave. But if you feel it…” He scans my face, eyes bright with emotion. “If you feel it, Lina… Stay.”
The truth is a cherry blossom, riding the swirls and gusts of wind, tumbling and turning. The truth is a bright, shimmering ember burning a hole in my heart. The truth is light in the darkness, a comfort to the pain, a salve to my bleeding wounds.
The truth is that I feel it, too.
Of courseI feel it. Despite everything I have done, everything he has done… Yes, I feel it. Like it is as much a part of me as my blood or my bones.
And with that admission, it is like magnetism, what happens next—some great and terrible force of attraction that lowers my head and brings my lips gently to his, pressing against him like the brush of a feather, light and sweet and soft.
I kiss him, and it is like I am breathing for the very first time since I lost myself to the darkness.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
The Prisoner
Our lips are more hesitant than they ever have been, shy and vulnerable as they brush against each other, as if we half expect this to be a dream. Something that we’ll remember only foggily come morning.
The bond between us seems to sing, and I can feel Rui’s joy and love mingling with my own, bright and sparkling and so eternal, so unending, as if flowing from an immortal ocean rather than a well.
It is as if we are only taking small, delicate sips from each other—like butterflies tasting sweet nectar, savoring the sugary dew. I kiss him gently, marveling that even after all of this, he still feels thesame. The shape of his lips, the taste of him, the way he smiles softly as I move an unruly strand of wavy hair from his face… All of it is as it was before the Prophecy, before this terrible war.
In this vast, forever-changing world, Rui is my anchor. My one constant, despite the forces that threaten to tear us apart. Even as I spiral and spiral, he is my gravity, always bringing me back to the ground.
Rui’s smile grows against my lips, yet he is… He is crying. Hastily, I move back, eyes wide as I stare at the sparkling tear tracing its way down the elegant planes of his face.
Rui?I swallow hard, shakily raising a finger to my lips. I scour him for any hint of distress, perhaps regret, but I only find his joy.
“Come back, little thief,” he murmurs, reaching for me. “I never want to be without you again.” With a gentle yet insistent tug, Rui guides me back down to him.
…
