We pause near an old park, iron benches slick with rain beneath the jaundiced glow of a streetlamp. Everything smells like wet stone and damp leaves. Boston holds its breath, waiting for us to move again.
“I...I wasn’t coping well. I’m sorry.” The words taste like ash on my tongue. Not because I don’t mean them, but because they cost something. My pride. My armor. The illusion that I could outrun the truth if I just kept being difficult enough.
Talon doesn’t answer right away. His eyes search mine, and I hate how gentle they’ve become.
“I’m not proud of how I acted,” I say, arms still wrapped around myself. “I felt...powerless. And angry. And heartbroken. So I lashed out.”
His brow furrows, and I expect him to jump in, to soothe, to forgive.
But I don’t let him. Not yet.
“I wanted to hurt you because I thought it would make me feel better,” I admit, my voice cracking. “And it didn’t. I just felt like a bratty little Succubus having a tantrum, and guess what? Turns out even Succubae get hangry and irrational when they’re starving.”
That earns a blink. Then a twitch of his lip, just the barest ghost of a smile. But he lets me keep talking.
“I know you did what you had to, forcing someone else on me,” I say, stepping closer. “Even if I hated it. Even if I’m still furious at the world for making you the one person I want most...and the one person I can’t touch.”
The ache behind my sternum presses hard again, but I push through it.
“I came to Boston thinking I could rewrite myself,” I murmur. “That if I was far enough from the palace, the past, the chains, I could just…be someone new. Independent. Uncursed. A Lost Girl.”
I shake my head, laughing bitterly. “But you were right. I can’t outrun this. My hunger, my power, my curse, it’s part of me. And I need to stop pretending it’s something I can shed like old skin.”
Talon's gaze sharpens, but I keep going, voice steady now. “That doesn’t mean I’m giving up. It means I need to make peace with it. On my terms. Not out of shame or fear or because I want to prove a point.”
Talon’s jaw flexes. He doesn’t interrupt. He listens.
“And what you did tonight,” I say, finally meeting his gaze, “letting yourself touch me like that, even through gloves, even through another body, it was dangerous. It was painful. But it mattered.” My throat tightens. “Because for a moment, it was just us. And I’d rather risk it all for mere moments like that than go without ever again.” I push my hair back behind my ear nervously.
Talon sighs and tilts his head to the sky for a long moment. My insides turn itchy from waiting on him to respond. “My job, my duty, has always been to protect you. But since being here, I’ve seen you adapt, grow—hell, you’ve been thriving. And it makes me...ashamed.”
I blink.What?
Then he steps in close, heat pouring off him like a wave. “You fought for the life you wanted. You carved out a life here, one that suits you. Despite the challenges, despite the steep learning curves and all the broken glass.”
My eyes narrow at that as I give his shoulder an indignant shove. “Hey.”
He wraps a gloved hand around my waist, the heat seeping through my clothes, stopping me. The gesture is so casual, so intimate, and something we’ve never done before. “I haven’t fought for you like that, Aura. And you deserve someone who doesn't pull back when things get complicated.”
Suddenly I’m far too warm all over, but I refuse to step away from his touch.
“I want you more than anything. No, I need you.” He swallows hard, eyes searching and pained. “I tried to tell myself if I kept that bit of distance then one day I’d stop wanting it to be me. But it never stops. It just hurts more. So I regret not stealing every small moment I could. Any point of contact.” He slides his hand up so it rests along my back. Our bodies aren’t quite touching, but we are so close. I’m hovering, floating in his gravitational field, and it feels like coming home. “The pain of keeping you safe far outweighs the risk of your happiness, of the life I’ve seen spark in you. You inspired me.”
He drops his head so his lips hover mine. It’s so close I feel heat sizzle across in pleasant little zips of power. The proximity is a luxury, a witchtitting revelation.
“I can’t be on the sidelines anymore, Aura. I’m done pretending you’re not it for me. You’re my turning point. The before and after of everything I am. We’re in this together. When you feed, I’m going to be right there showing you how much I want you. Loving you even with a quarter inch of fabric between us.”
“We’ll make this work, we’ll makeuswork,” he says, “Even if it’s messy, unconventional, and unfair. It’ll be ours.”
I nod. “Even if it’s not perfect.”
His mouth tilts in something that isn’t quite a smile. “Perfect’s boring anyway.”
I huff a laugh. I can still love him. And for the first time, I think I can love me too. Curse and all.
Despite the resolution, I still feel the knife in my heart from losing my friends. “I guess we should move, huh?” I ask.
Talon nods. “It’s not safe here, when everyone knows what you are.”
