"Do what? Auren?"
He stood quickly, knee banging into the tabletop, making the tea cups rattle.
He paced away, fingers tearing at his cloak before he tugged it off and threw it against the wall with a roar. She’d never seen him like this before.
Rin went to him, placing her hands on his back. He tried to shove her off, but she only gripped him tighter, until he settled with a tense sound.
"What happened? Don’t lie to me, Auren. You’re mine, aren’t you? Soulbonds don’t lie. We made a vow to each other—no more lies. Will you break your oath so easily?"
Auren scoffed, the sound bitter and ragged, speaking of centuries of suppressed feeling. "Why do you torment me so?"
She thought it was another question not meant for her to answer, until he turned and pinned her to the spot with his sparkling blue eyes, like ocean waves under sunlight.
Rin just… stared up at him, unspeaking.
He was illuminated by the firelight, his shadow swallowing hers. "If I did not know any better, I would think that the Celestials gave you to me as a punishment."
"What?"
"Your words—you have no idea the weight they carry," Auren continued. "Everything about you. It hasruinedme."
She stepped closer until her breasts pressed against him. She felt his heaving chest scraping against her nipples with each breath—and realized she was still dressed in her sleep clothes. His eyes raked over her with stark agony, settling on her nipples, visible through her thin shirt, the long, pale line of her legs, bared by her shorts.
"I have been existing as nothing for so long. Unfeeling in immortality. The only bit of feeling I have ever been granted was when I knew you. You died so quickly. This time, I thought it would be different. Celestials, I love you, Vesperin Vox. I have since I first laid eyes upon you on that beaten dirt path, bloodied and ready to depart for the Stars. Then, you awoke something in me. This visceral need for things I had buried for centuries. With you, I feel like a man."
Here he was, bearing his Soul. She gathered the pieces he offered, clutching them close to her chest as she rose on tiptoe, cradling his jaw and pressing her lips firmly against his.
His kiss was unpracticed. She fumbled, too, used to letting others lead. Each thrust of their tongues or nip of their teeth laid more and more of their Souls bare. She lost herself in him.
When she had to breathe, she broke away, calves aching from standing on tiptoe so long.
Auren’s wet mouth rested on the bow of her lips. "With you, I do not feel like what I was called to be, but like I could be something more than what we have been given this life."
"You are, Auren. You’re more to me." Rin’s nose grazed his. "You’re everything to me. Whatever’s plaguing you, I’m here. You can tell me."
"I…"
Rin held her breath.
"I cannot tell you."
She lowered her heels to the floor.
"Can’t or won’t?" she countered.
His lips kept moving strangely, forming the shape of words that never quite made it to the air. "You do not understand, Vesperin. I would slice open my chest with my scythe and let you see the depths of my immortal Soul if you wished, but I cannot give you this. Icannot." He thumped a fist over his heart. "I am bound. I… vowed."
"You should never bind yourself to anyone but me." Rin stepped closer to him, hating this distance, and so fucking angry with the way life had turned out. Maybe she should’ve just drunk her tea and talked sweetly to him, instead of pushing and pressing.
Auren said he wanted to feel? Then she would make him feel.
She placed her palms over his chest and shoved him. "You’re mine. You don’t get to make vows to anyone but me."
A shuddering breath left him.
"Say it," she demanded. "Say you’re mine."
"I’m yours."
