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Warmth flushed my neck when he pulled at the ties of the cotton trousers he’d worn beneath his robes, which he quickly removed. “What are you doing?”
“Bathing,” he said simply, as if he wasn’t naked out in the open, following the natural edge of the black pool toward one of the columns, his body a picture of masculinity with strong legs, a perfectly-sculpted buttocks, and shadowed valleys that lay between his shifting muscles. “My father came here often after he sparred with Asker. There’s nothing quite like it for soothing your bones and muscles. Try it; I know you’re sore.” He lowered himself into the water, sending a ripple across the surface. Then he leaned his back against the edge, rested his elbows there, and smirked up at me. “Surely, you are not going to act coy now, considering how it took two grown men, their cocks, and a lot of cotton shreds to handle you the night of our bonding?”
I tilted my head and arched a brow. “I cannot swim. Mother never allowed me to learn.”
“Then I shall have to teach you.” Malyr pushed himself off the edge, swam over, and reached his hand up. “But until then, let me hold you.”
That aching knot at the base of my skull decided for me, having me quickly strip out of my clothes and boots. I sat at the edge of the pool, then slowly let myself slip into the embrace of his arms, the soothing heat of the water, the caress of bubbles tingling along my skin.
“This feels wonderful,” I all but groaned, easily settling into the draping hold of his arms as I slung one of mine around his neck. “And to think that winter is still all around us.”
“Spring is nearly here.” Malyr slowly waded toward the outer edge of the pool that seemed to flow into the horizon, the water only reaching his mid-chest. “The pool, however, is not what I wanted to show you.”
“No?”
“No, it is this.” Guiding my hands to the rocky edge for hold, he turned me toward the sprawling city beneath us, one arm wrapped around my belly, his body pressing into me from behind. With his other hand, he pointed at the lit windows that speckled Valtaris here and there in the quickly falling night, his lips pressing against my earlobe as he whispered, “Whenever you look about the city, remember that it sparkles because of you and only you. Every Raven who calls Valtaris his home is in your debt, but none so more than I. Without you, I could not have given my family a proper burial. You are… a miracle, my little white dove.”
Not worthless.
A miracle.
My chest expanded wider against the slick wall of the pool, pulling the fresh air deep into my lungs where it mingled with those swirls of joy and pride I hadn’t allowed myself to feel for days. “Valtaris is my home now, too.”
“And it will receive you with all the honor that is due to you,” he said. “Asker is already busy planning my coronation now that we recovered the crowns. I requested that our coronations take place together, during one unified ceremony, so the world may see what you’ve done for us.”
Confused, I glanced over my shoulder back at him. “My… what?”
His gaze slipped to my lips for a moment before it found mine again. “You don’t know, do you? Ravens have neither king nor queen consort, not among bonded couples. Little dove, you and I are expected to rule side by side.”
A shudder played along my exposed shoulders, making my gaze snap forward as wave of dizziness hit me. I went from Domren’s betrothed, to Lord Brisden’s hated daughter, to worthless Galantia, to Malyr’s betrothed, to betrayed, to Raven, to void, to miracle… all in the span of less than half a year. But queen? I couldn’t say if I was ready for that.
“Can I ask you something?”
Malyr let a scoop of hot water run down the side of my neck, languid heat soaking into my skin. “Anything.”
“You said you had three reasons why you wanted this bond,” I said. “To strengthen your gift. To find relief from your shadows. What is the third?”
“To make it impossible for you to run away from me.” A gentle kiss against my nape. “That leaves me with a lifetime to show you that I can do better. With you by my side… I can. And maybe, with prayers, I can regain your heart.”
That heart he wanted shuddered in my chest, as affected by this man as it had been when he’d first kissed me. He’d had it then—something I’d struggled so hard to obscure even from myself, drowning my feelings for him in heartbreak and hatred.
I shook my head. “Seems to me there would’ve been no running regardless. You need me; I need you.”
“I don’t want to be needed; I want to bewanted.” His warm whisper caressed the side of my neck, making my breath hobble. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” At least nothing that I could put into words in a way that would make sense even to myself right now. “I’m just… confused, I guess.”
Somewhere, wings flapped.
“About?”
“My own thoughts?” My heart and how it pounded faster at this strange intimacy between us, with how openly we spoke, and how different he was when not burdened by shadows. “Bonds. Relationships. Fate. Love.”
His breathing altered, his inhales turning into shallow gasps that he held for a second before he exhaled, as if it took him great effort to continue breathing at all. “You are bonded to me. You are in a relationship with Sebian. The three of us are where fate wants us to be. As for love…” a faint, short inhale, “Sebian loves you deeply.” A quivering exhale. “As do I.”
My breath caught.
My eyes clenched shut.
