Page 265 of Emylia

Because he was offering me his whole world, and I… I could only give him a sliver of mine. A fraction. A maybe. And it felt like failure. He deserved more. And yet, he still looked at me like I was everything.

“Take it,” he said, pressing the shell into my hands. “Take it as proof. That no matter what, my heart is yours.”

A sob caught in my throat. “I don’t deserve you,” I whispered.

“Too late,” he said with a crooked smile. “You’ve already got me.”

I pulled him into a kiss, urgent and breathless. He slid the ring onto my finger—but paused. “What’s this?”

Realizing what he was asking about, I tried to pull away, but he was too quick. He caught sight of the faint scar on my wrist. “What happened?”

“I... branded myself. Accidentally. When I was finishing your ring. Evie bumped into me.”

“That’s what you were doing the other night?”

I nodded.

His laugh rumbled through him. “You branded yourself with a wolf?”

“Not on purpose.”

He stared at it, awe softening every angle of his face. “It matches mine perfectly.”

I straddled him with a smirk. “You aren't going to let me hear the end of this are you.”

“Your clumsiness has always brought me immense pleasure.”

My lips claimed his again. Deeper. Wilder.

This time, there were no words. Just us. Fire and magik and eternity wrapped into one another.

Maalikai rolled me onto my back, his body blanketing mine. But this time wasn’t like before.

This time, it was different.

Irrevocable.

Forever.

This was a man giving everything.

This was a girl breaking beneath the weight of a love she might never be able to fully return. But choosing it anyway.

His hands moved over me with aching reverence, committing every breath, every scar, every fragile part of me to memory. Like he could fuse us together if he just touched deep enough. Long enough.

His mouth trailed fire down my throat, and I gasped as his skin met mine—heat to heat, heart to heart. The world melted away.

No fear.

No teasing.

No walls.

Just this.

Just us.

Because we both knew…

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