Page 63 of Zenith Tower

“I know. So does he.”

“He stayed until you woke,” she said. “He needed to see that you knew me.”

“And then he left you here with me.”

“He did.”

“You should talk to him.”

“I will.” Her thumb moved across my knuckles. “But I’m not leaving you alone tonight.”

I had spent years preparing people to leave me. I had made it easy where I could, retreating behind charm whenever concern came too close to the truth. Astra had never been especially interested in what I made easy.

“All right,” I said.

She studied me, waiting for the joke that usually followed surrender. I let the silence stand.

Her palm returned to my chest. She watched it rise with my breathing. When she looked at me again, her gaze dropped to my mouth.

“You nearly died last night,” she said.

“I remember that part too.”

“Kieran.”

“I’m tired. I’m sore. And I want you.” I drew my thumb along her lower lip. “If you want to sit there and listen to my heart all night, I want that too.”

“I want you,” she said.

She leaned down and kissed me.

She kept one hand over my heart, feeling each beat beneath her palm while her mouth opened against mine. I drew her lower lip between my teeth. The small sound she made went through the new line and settled hot beneath my ribs.

She stretched out beside me and gathered the thin linen shirt in both hands. I caught her wrists before she could pull it over my head.

“Shoulder,” I reminded her.

Fear flashed through the line.

“Because it’s stiff,” I said. “That’s all.”

I guided her hands to the ties instead. She opened them one by one and eased the fabric aside. The mended Mark ran green-gold over my shoulder, unbroken beneath her fingertips.

She traced it once.

“Still here,” I said.

“I know.”

She kissed the place where the fracture had been.

I closed my eyes. Her mouth was warm against skin the fracture had emptied of feeling. She followed the green-goldline toward my chest, and the bond carried the relief she could not keep from trembling into each kiss.

“Tell me if anything hurts,” she whispered.

“I will.”

“Honestly.”