The ancient pull of power that had defined my existence for centuries.
All of it—Silenced.
“And I love you too.”
The words should not have meant as much as they did.
But they did.
Gods.
They did.
“I love you more than anything in all the realms, my mate. My sweet Serena,” I said, my voice low, reverent, certain.
I meant it.
Every part of it.
“I love you until all the stars in the multiverse burn out in all the skies…”
I brushed my thumb across her cheek.
“…and maybe even longer than that.”
Her laugh was soft.
Warm.
Alive.
“Are there that many skies?”
I smiled—something I had once thought impossible.
“I’ll introduce you to a friend of mine,” I said. “A descendant of the moon god himself. He will tell us of the skies, Unnasta.”
The future.
We had one.
That realization still felt unreal.
But right now?—
Right now?—
I had something far more immediate.
I stepped closer.
Close enough to feel her breath.
Her warmth.
Her everything.
“But right now,” I said, my voice dropping, hunger stirring—not wild, not dangerous, but devoted, “I have other things to do.”