Page 106 of Unseen Eye
His breath hitches, his eyes shining with raw emotion. “If you don’t feel the same way, that’s fine, I’ll understand. But you need to know… there’s no one else for me. Just you.”
My cheeks flush, warmth spreading through my chest as his words sink in, filling me with a wave of emotions—love, joy,disbelief, longing. I look at him. Every wall he’s built around himself, every scar, every weakness is laid bare before me. And the overwhelming truth hits me—he loves me. He loves me.
I try to speak, but words fail me. My heart pounds in my chest, my throat tightens. But I don’t need words. Not now. Instead, I close the space between us, my lips crashing into his, pouring every ounce of emotion into that kiss—every word unsaid, every feeling I can’t express.
The kiss is soft at first, a tentative promise, but it deepens quickly, becoming something fierce, something that feels like a declaration. My hands find his hair, tangling in it as I pull him closer, wanting—needing—him to know everything I feel. The world around us falls away, leaving only the two of us intertwined in this perfect moment.
After a while, I pull away, resting my forehead against his, wishing I could freeze this moment, these feelings, forever. “I love you, Cal. I’ve loved you since the moment you saved me in the forest all those months ago.”
Suddenly, it all clicks into place. “That night,” I start, piecing together everything, “when you saw my eyes… you freaked out and disappeared. That’s when you knew, wasn’t it?”
He nods. His expression softening as he recalls the memory. “Truthfully, I felt like I’d just been punched in the gut.”
His voice drops to a whisper, filled with awe. “I couldn’t believe it—the girl with the eyes I dreamed of for so long was real, standing right in front of me. It was as if all the chaos and uncertainty in my life suddenly made sense. Your eyes brought light into my darkness. Your eyes gave me a reason to fight, to hope.”
Cal pauses, taking a deep breath before continuing. “After I left that night, I blinked myself straight to Ardu. I couldn’t trust myself if I went back to the castle. I went to the closest pub and tried to drink them dry.” He chuckles darkly. “Izzy found me inrough shape a few hours later. She figured out what happened without me saying a word. It was because of the shields in Ardu and the state I was in that I didn’t sense the attack at Pinebrook the next day. Otherwise, I would’ve been there in a heartbeat,” he says, offering me a sad smile.
“When I finally trusted myself not to destroy everything, we left Ardu, and as soon as I passed through the shields, I felt it. Without even telling Izzy, I blinked away to find you. When I got to Pinebrook and saw all the destruction... the bodies… I feared the worst.” His eyes darken with the memory. “But it wasn’t until I reached your cottage and saw Garet’s sword on the ground with Astermiri’s crest that I knew he had something to do with it.”
Cal’s expression hardens, anger flashing in his eyes. “When we got to Astermiri, and I saw Garet touch you, the way he looked at you, I wanted to kill him all over again. Then I saw how he and the Baron treated you—like you were an object, not a person—forcing you to marry him. I was ready to burn Astermiri to the ground just to keep you safe.”
He clenches his fist, his knuckles white from the force of his anger.
I reach out and gently take his hand in mine. “But you didn’t,” I correct him softly. “Instead, you saved me, Cal.”
My heart swells with emotion, and a single tear slips down my cheek. I press my lips to his in a brief, tender kiss—a promise of everything that’s to come, a future filled with love.
We sit there for a while, talking quietly, laughing at old memories, debating just how scandalous it would be to do more than just kiss on top of this cliff. But eventually, reality pulls us back.
“Are you ready to talk about it?” Cal asks gently.
I don’t need to ask to know what he means. Taking a deep breath, I center myself and begin to tell him everything I saw. I go over the details, pausing when I need to, and Cal listenspatiently, his hand tracing slow, comforting circles on my back.
“The mark my mother had on her forearm—it reminded me of the one I have,” I say, showing him my arm, the marking I’ve meant to ask about for what feels like forever.
Cal’s face registers shock for a brief second before he masks it. He looks down at my arm, taking it in his hands and turning it over. “There’s nothing there,” he says slowly.
“Yes, there is,” I insist. “It appeared the first time I made light.” I glance at him. “You have the same one on your shoulder.”
I shove up his sleeve and point to it, “Right here!”
He doesn’t argue. Instead, he sits silently, his hands still holding my arm. His expression turns thoughtful, as if something is finally clicking into place.
“What is it?” I ask, praying he knows the answer.
Slowly, he looks up at me. I brace myself for shock or fear, but instead, I see something else in his eyes—love.
“There are stories,” Cal begins softly, “so old that most people don’t remember their origins, much less believe them. They say that when two people who are destined for each other find one another, a marking appears on both, tying them together. It binds their futures—stronger than love, stronger than anything. But only the woman can see the mark until she accepts the bond. Once she does, it becomes permanent and visible to everyone.”
“What are you saying?” My voice barely rises above a whisper, my heart thundering in my chest.
“Eva,” he says, smiling tenderly, “I think we’re fated.”
The word sends a jolt through me. It all makes sense—the pull I’ve always felt toward him, the mark that appeared when I first used my power, which was also the first time I met him. How no one has ever noticed or mentioned it.
He’s my fated one. My match.
I open my mouth to say something, to tell him how I feel, butI freeze when I see the sudden shift in his expression. His face tightens with tension—a look I’ve only ever seen once before. And I already know what it means.
