Page 244 of Emylia

I met his outstretched hand, letting my fingers fall into the spaces between his. “Heck yes.”

His hand closed around mine—warm, sure, and familiar. I was stepping into something wild and chaotic, something that could unmake me... but I felt utterly safe.

With Sebastian, I always had.

We walked in silence, his excitement vibrating through every step like a current I couldn’t resist. The stone softened beneath our feet, damp and smooth. Water trickled somewhere ahead, guiding us like a thread spun by the Gods themselves.

Then, he stopped.

“Wait.”

I turned to him just in time to see him pull something from his pocket—a strip of cloth, black as midnight.

I blinked. “What’s that for?”

He moved behind me, gently brushing my hair aside. “Trust me?”

“Always.” Breath poured from me like surrender.

Cool fingers brushed my temples as he slipped the blindfold over my eyes, tying it snugly behind my head. I was plunged into darkness, the only tether to reality the warmth of his hand still wrapped around mine.

“One more surprise,” he whispered.

And I knew—whatever came next would live in my bones forever.

Guiding me forward, he led me through the cave–silence wrapping around us like something beyond ethereal. Then without warning, he stopped. A heartbeat passed and then another. Then the blindfold slipped from my eyes, and I forgot how to breathe.

Before me lay a blanket stretched across the stone floor, scattered with wildflowers—sunbursts of gold, blush pinks, and violets tangled between plush pillows. Half-melted beeswax candles flickered like trapped stars, their soft glow painting the cavern in gold. The air shimmered faintly with magik, the scent of honeycomb curling around us—warm, familiar, achingly tender.

Delicate threads of gold magik licked at the cave’s edges, weaving lazy spirals through the mist. Overhead, glowworms clung to the ceiling like constellations spun in silk—each one glowing with a pale, blue incandescence that made the pool below gleam like liquid moonlight.

It was magik—pure, gentle magik. And it took me a full heartbeat to realize…

He’d done this.

For me.

I turned to him, disbelieving. “You did all this?”

Sebastian stood beside me, silent. Waiting. Not expectant. Just... hoping.

“I thought you deserved something that was just yours,” he said softly.

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. Because this was more than a gesture. This was love. This was everything.

And I still hadn’t chosen. Gods, I still hadn’t chosen between them. Still couldn’t give myself completely to him—even though I knew he had already given everything to me.

“Bastian…”

“It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t. Because we both knew this could be goodbye.

The kind of goodbye that doesn’t scream—it whispers. The kind that carves you from the inside out and leaves you bleeding in silence. The kind only given when you love someone so much it hurts to breathe.

And I hated it.

Gods, I hated it.

---