“Have you ever fucked one of your students before?”
He stops mid-pour, glancing up to meet my eyes.
“I mean, before me.” A playful smile curls across my lips.
He finishes pouring his wine, then tops my glass before putting the cork back into the bottle. “No. You were the first.”
That makes something inside me twist in glee, but I try not to show it. “What made you choose to risk it with me? Risk your job and your reputation?”
A hint of a smile tugs on his mouth as he sits back, leaning against the couch. “If you think I had a choice in the matter, you don’t yet understand my feelings for you.”
His words ignite a spark low in my belly. I watch how he lifts the wineglass to his lips, the bob of his throat as he swallows. And suddenly, I find myself moving toward him, taking the glass from his hand and setting it aside, seating myself in his lap with my knees on either side of his hips. His eyes widen just slightly.
“Then help me understand,” I whisper. Leaning forward, I brush my lips delicately across his. “Why me, Severin?”
His hands find my waist, long fingers pressing into the skin there. He reclines back against the couch, looking up into my eyes. “Because you smell like a summer storm, and you feel like one too. Because for the first time in so many years, you made me feel something again, like a statue come back to life.” One of his hands lifts, fingertips trailing along my cheek. “Because after one conversation, you took up permanent residence in my mind. And no matter how hard I tried, you refused to leave.” His eyes narrow. “You’ve bewitched me,furtuna mea.”
I lean forward slowly. My forehead touches his, resting there. My long hair falls around us, trapping us in our own quiet world. “All spells can be broken.”
“Not this one.” His voice is a low grumble. “I told you before: Until you no longer want me, I’m yours.”
I shift closer to him, wrapping both hands around the back of his head. “Then you’re going to be with me for a very long time.”
His lips turn up just slightly. “It will never be long enough.”
Then I kiss those lips, pressing my mouth to his. He tastes like wine and smells like woodsmoke. His body is warm beneath mine, warmer than the fire flickering at my back.
Our bond flashes with heat, making us both gasp against each other’s mouths.
“Severin...” I whisper against his lips. Then I pull back, just far enough to look into his eyes.
He looks back, dark gaze trained on mine. Waiting, watching.
“I’ve been thinking about what you told me,” I say quietly. My fingers play with the long hair at his nape, and I watch the firelight dance in his near-black eyes. “About the bond. About what it could mean if it becomes... permanent.”
Beneath me, his body feels still as stone.
“Maeve—”
I lean forward, stealing his words away with my lips. Then I whisper, “Wait. I need to say this.”
He nods once, jaw tight, lapsing back into silence.
With a sigh, I settle my weight more firmly in his lap. “It scared me,” I admit. “The thought of living longer than I should, watching those I love die.”
The words hang between us. Severin offers no words of comfort, of which there are none. There is only truth.
“It’s not the life I imagined for myself. But...” I tighten my fingers around the back of his neck, weaving them together as if I can hold the two of us here forever through sheer force of will. “But my life was already changing, even before I met you. And I don’t want to fear change.”
His eyes meet mine, a slow furrow forming in his brow.
“When I think about what the bond could be... it doesn’t feel like something being taken from me. It feels like an offering. Something I’mchoosing.”
His chest stops rising and falling, his breath catching.
“And I choose you, Severin.” Mist gathers in my eyes. “I don’t know what the future holds, and I won’t pretend I’m not at least somewhat afraid.” A small breath of laughter leaves me in a whisper. “But I want my future to include you.Allof you.”
As the words leave my mouth, I feel conviction in them. And I know what I want.
