Page 466 of Kingdoms of Night

He looked at her again, as though something might have changed after he said the words.

Instead, his eyes followed the line of her cheeks and the graceful way her neck met those broad shoulders. This was no delicate woman who would break if he wasn’t here.

But he would. He would surely shatter if he never saw her again.

“You need to go with your sister,” she said, but she took a step closer to him. “She needs you now more than ever. Your people need you.”

“You are my people.” And perhaps it was the adrenaline flowing through his veins, or the love that made his head bubbly, but Rowan tilted his head back and laughed. He spread his arms wide as he said, “I renounce my people! If that makes you feel better, my love, my dragon, I have no one in this realm but you.”

She lunged forward and clapped her hand over his mouth. “Don’t say that! You can’t take something like that back.”

Rowan saw an opportunity when it presented itself. He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her into him. “I don’t want to take them back.”

She pulled her hand off his mouth. “What did you say?”

The warmth of her skin sank into his, and Rowan had never been happier than this moment. “I don’t want to take them back, love of my life. Fire of my soul. I love you. I will love you when we are old and gray and still alone on this horrible mess of an island. Still, I will never regret choosing you over all others.”

Tanis searched his gaze as though she were certain he was lying. But she would find no lies in his eyes. “Are you sure?”

“A thousand times over.”

Her features softened. She traced a finger over his cheeks, down the bridge of his nose, to his lips. “I love you, too. I didn’t think it was possible, but... I do.”

“You didn’t think it was possible because I’m an elf?”

“I didn’t think it was possible because I never thought I would fall in love.” She shook her head at him before sneaking in closer to steal a kiss. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Rowan. Even if we are the only two that ever live on this island again.”

He kissed her back, but whispered against her lips, “Don’t give up yet, my love. There may be another hero in this story. One we haven’t met yet.”

“I hope so.”

Until that time, however, they would stay right here. And he couldn’t think of any better place for his future than in her arms, loving her until the day he died.

* * *

---