Page 105 of The Reaper's Vice

I brush her silver hair back from her forehead, my heart seizing at the powerful emotion swirling in her eyes. “What’s that look for?”

“Hmm? I don’t knowww….”

I growl, covering her throat with my palm and applying pressure. “I don’t like when you keep secrets from me, little dove…”

She giggles, and the sound is so pure and full of love that it causes me to jerk back. “You really want to know?”

I nod, unblinking, as I run my thumb across her cheek, utterly enchanted by the memory of that sound. “Always…”

She rolls over, pressing her swollen lips to the tip of my nose. She dips lower, kissing my mouth, my chin, and back up to my lips. Her eyes are hooded, her pupils blown, eating up the beautiful gold or her irises. And when she speaks, it’s an even more lovely tune than that laugh.

“I was just thinking… that I love you.”

I reel back, searching her face for any sign of deceit. Any chance she’s playing some horrible prank on me?

But the only thing I find is honesty.

“I love you, Seraphina,” I whisper, taking her face in my palms. She’s so small, so fragile, I’m worried I’ll break her.

But no… that’s not right.

Because Seraphina is anything but fragile. She has teeth and claws of her own, sharp and deadly and ready to fight. She’s a force to be reckoned with—and no matter how I’ve tried,I’mthe one shattering beneath her gaze.I’mthe one begging—pleading on my hands and knees—for her to bemine.

“I love you, my darling little dove. I have since the first moment I saw you, and I have loved you more every day since.” Her eyes well with tears, and I reach up, swiping them away with the pad of my thumb. “I will love you more tomorrow than I do today. I will love you more every day until my death. And then…”

I lean forward, stopping when our lips are just a breath apart. “And then, my sweet Seraphina… I will love you from the never. I will love you when I am nothing more than food for worms, when my skin and bones dissolve, and my brains turn to mush. My soul is irrevocably tied to yours now, and I… nothing could have ever made me so happy. Nothing ever will.”

She smiles. And it’s a good smile. A pure smile—one free of hatred. Of pain. On the contrary—the only thing shining in her golden gaze is pure, unadulterated devotion.

“You’remine, Orion Adair.” She brushes her lips gently against mine. “Just as I am yours. Forever.”

I close the distance, and the sky opens up as our lips meet. For once, someone is listening. Someonecares.

And they’ve given meher.

“Forever,” I repeat. “Forever.”

As if that would be long enough.

53

SERAPHINA

“GOODBYE”

6 months later…

My lungs ache, my muscles spasm, my nose is damn near about to fall off from the frosty air, but I can’t stop—not when I’m so close. I look to my right, then hurry my pace when I see the sky is now a pale violet hue. I’m not looking where I’m going, and the toe of my hiking boot snags on a rock, sending me off-balance. My eyes widen as I tilt toward the edge of the cliff, looking down at the five-thousand-foot drop for one terrifying moment before I’m pulled back onto the trail.

“Watch your step, little dove.” Orion pants, his face set in concentration as he hooks one of his tethers to my backpack. “There. Now you won’t be able to fly away from me.”

I bark a laugh, and a cloud of vapor billows in the frozen air. “I wasn’ttryingto fly away.”

“Mmhmm.” He swats my ass, tipping his chin at the trail ahead. “Go on, Seraphina. The sun isn’t going to wait for us to rise.”

This time, I keep my eyes on the frozen path as we climb the rest of the distance to the summit. It took months of training, preparation, and planning to get here, but today, we’re doing it—we’re climbing to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

It’s been a difficult and overwhelming seven-day journey, and I can’t help but think how much Maggie would have loved it. Each day has been a different experience and climate—from grasslands, rainforests, and deserts in the first half, to the snow and icy tundra of the second half as we ascended into the sky—they all possess their own unique beauty and danger.

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