Page 71 of Ballad of Sea and Sky

To join together, whereby,

The gods refused, the pair accused,

The ballad of sea and sky.

So sing of sea and sky, my love,

The tale a sweet lullaby.

A story of old, a dream so bold,

The ballad of sea and sky.

In rage the storm of love foresworn,

A tempest bittersweet.

While touch they might each day and night,

The two would never meet.

The legend born, this love we mourn,

A boundless star-crossed cry.

An ancient lore from distant shore,

The ballad of sea and sky.

So sing of sea and sky, my love,

The tale a sweet lullaby.

A story of old, a dream so bold,

The ballad of sea and sky.

I was embarrassed to find myself crying by the end of the song. The story of star-crossed lovers—the sea and the sky, forever apart despite their love for each other—seemed to mirror our own story in ways that I wasn’t sure I was ready to examine.

“I think though,” Caspian said, catching a tear as he finished the song, “that the ending is ultimately a hopeful one.”

“How so?” I asked, feeling foolish for becoming emotional over a song. “Our ancestors died for a love that could never be. It’s right there in the song.”

“The sea and skydomeet,“ he argued, cupping my jaw and brushing a thumb over my lip. It was barely a whisper of a touch, but enough for heat to flare in me. “At the horizon. The sun and moon fall and rise between them, and thus they are together. Someone just needs to sing the final verse.”

“Someonedid,“ I argued, lifting my hand to cover Caspian’s. “It ended in death. You said so yourself.”

“No,” Caspian shook his head, smiling gently down at me. “That wasn’t the final verse.Thisis. Andwecan be the ones to sing it.”

“You are a hopeless romantic,” I teased, meeting his gaze with a heated one of my own.

“Perhaps,” he agreed, his voice husky as he curled his hand around the back of my neck. “Or maybe a hopefulone.”

He kissed me then, as if the wave of longing in us were trying to escape its breakwalls. I kissed him back just as eagerly, surprise bleeding quickly into desire.

He scooped me up, making me yelp as he pulled me down on the bed with him, his hands beginning a slow exploration in tandem with his lips.

“Caspian,” I gasped, finding it difficult to form words properly with his hand squeezing my hip and his lips against my throat.