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A soft groan left him as his eyes slipped shut. Though his brow remained pinched. After rinsing his hair, he opened his eyes to watch as I lathered the loofah and scrub his body. Nakoa’s head tilted back, something wounded evident in his gaze.
“Thank you, Nakoa…,” I murmured gently.
He studied me silently for a few moments before he straightened, removing the soap and loofah from my hands to pull me against him as he drew in a shuddering breath. His tail snaked around my waist, curling tight.
“Mareina, I?—
Nakoa took in another shuddering breath to quell his emotion before continuing.
“… Words cannot describe the terror I felt when I realized that something might have happened to you.”
Emotion seared my eyes, and I bit my cheek so hard I bled in my attempt to keep my voice steady.
“And when I saw you--
Nakoa’s grip on me tightened, his fingers digging in so firmly it would leave bruises. Arms trembling with barely held restraint.
“For a moment, I thought that... That they had?—
I pulled back, cradling his head in my hands so I could hold his gaze. Reassure him.
“They didn’t… They didn’t get a chance to because you came for me.”
Nakoa’s brow pinched, his jaw working furiously as his glittering tears finally spilled.
“I will always come for you, Mareina. I will always be there to save you. Whether you wanted me to or not, I would crawl on hands and knees through the fires and chasms of every hell to save you.”
My gaze scoured his, searching for the veracity in his words. Though I couldn’t help but doubt… If it was merely because the bond compelled him to or because of his machinations. If those were the sole reasons… Something in my already withered heart wilted at the idea.
“I want you to tell me the truth, Nakoa… I know you desire and care for me because the bond demands it, but I also canfeelthere is something else. Some other end to meet…”
I could see the indecision warring behind his eyes. The petals of my heart that had begun to blossom curled shut.
A wave of emotion crested like the swell of a tidal wave threatening obliteration. Is that why he'd saved me? Because of some fucking bond we had no choice but to submit to, and whatever other manipulations he’d been hiding from me?
The reckless, wounded, savage part of me lamented that he had even come. That he hadn’t just left me there to die. Just when I thought that perhaps that…
A growl tore from my lips as I drew myself away and out of the bathing pool. Water sloshed, and Nakoa’s tail drug me back in to fall back into his arms.
“Mareina—
I stood, shoving him back so fiercely his big body stumbled, bouncing off the side of the bathing pool.
“Thank you, Nakoa. You’ve done yoursoulboundduty. Now allow me to liberate you from any further obligation. I will give youoneopportunity.One.To be honest with me and tell me what the fuck it is you want with me outside of whatever gods-forsaken uncontrollableurgesthis cursed bond demands.”
Nakoa opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off by pressing my blade to his throat as I pressed in close to him.
“Truth, Nakoa Solanis. Thefulltruth, or I swear toAkashI won’t waste another opportunity to carve your fucking heart from your chest.”
Nakoa searched my gaze for a moment, his features hardening.
“The bond. I need the bond fulfilled, so we both have enough power to overcome Zurie and her army. My visions have shown me repeatedly thatyouare to be the one to kill Zurie."
Icy shock doused me like a bucket of cold water.
Even though a part of me had already suspected… intuitivelyknown… that it would be something like this… It didn’t soften the blow. The words were like a knife slamming to the hilt in some already wounded, fleshy part of me.
Of course.
