Page 35 of Skyblossom
My heart swelled, and I slipped my hand into hers, squeezing. “Vision or no, huh?”
“I respect your choice if you want to honor your… your fate. But I want—”
“Cadence, you’re the one I’ve been waiting for,” I laughed. “We’re right here.”
“We’re right—” She looked up, and I saw the moment she clocked it—here under the passionoak in front of MarveilleStation. I heard her breath catch, her hand squeezing tighter on mine. “Oh. I didn’t—I swear I didn’t do that on purpose—”
“I know,” I laughed. “I don’t think that vision was telling me where to find my true love. I think it was telling me to come back—to give us a chance.”
She sniffled, taking a long, shaky breath. After a second, she said, “Lumi’s going to freak out.”
“Ah… it’s basically all she ever does.” I squeezed her hand. “I love you, too, Cadence. I’ve got to… I’ve got to go. Um… catch the next train. But—I love you. Even if we’re apart for the summer, do you want to—”
“I do,” she said, blurting it out with her eyes shining. “I do want to. I want to be with you. If you’ll have me. Whatever it might look like.”
I laughed, short and breathless, feeling like I was seeing stars. And not just from getting hit in the back with a blunt weapon. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I want to be your girlfriend. Want to spend every waking hour of the summer texting you little things, maybe book a ride to where you live and visit you, maybe vice versa, want to walk into that graduation ceremony on your arm so everybody knows I’m yours, want to come back to Starfall in the fall and throw myself into your arms first thing.”
“That sounds wonderful,” I said thickly. “That sounds… that sounds perfect to me. But there’s one more thing before I go…”
“What?” Her expression turned inquisitive, and I grinned.
“Let’s fly.”
Her jaw dropped. “Do you… have…”
“How do you think I got here from the car?”
“Oh, saints, Summer, did you—what? Your first time flying, too? That issodangerous!”
“I wanted to see you!”
“I wanted that too, but I don’t want to see you in the infirmary!”
I laughed, and when Knot tugged on our wrists, I agreed with him—leaned in and captured her in a kiss, sweeping her into me, and it felt like every beautiful vision of every beautiful future coming true all at once.
“I’m still mad,” she said with a pout once I pulled away.
“Aw. Well, I’ve owed you some repayment for a long time now. Maybe a little flight tour of the Citadel with me before I go? And a trip out to each one of the places we harvested ingredients?”
She swallowed hard, nodding through tears. “Let’s skip the one with the stone dragons.”
“Yeah, good call…”
“We can cross out the one in the bloody thrashers’ den too…”
“Yeah—I was thinking that also—”
“But aside from that,” she said, settling into my front, pressing a kiss against my cheek and resting herself against me, “I’ll go anywhere you want to take me.”
“Hold on tight, then,” I said, and she did—Knot moved to let her use her arm, and she wrapped them around me, holding onto me while I swept her up in a bridal carry, Knot fixing her to me as I tapped into the magic again and lifted up off the ground, and together, we took to the sky.
Epilogue
THIRD-YEARS
CADENCE
