Page 72 of Of Songs and Silence

“On my honor,” he says at last, pulling our linked fingers against his lips in a gesture that is both proprietary and unexpectedly sweet, like he needs to touch me.

Like he savors it.

Relief weakens my knees, tears stabbing at the back of my eyes.

“Then tell me everything,” I say.

So he does.

CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR

MELODI

By the time I am finished sorting through the torrent of memories and emotions and plans that Ari has revealed to me, there’s one thought running endlessly through my head.

It’s not enough time.

I sink down onto his bed, my mind reeling.

Tomorrow, the rebels will attack, and Ari will lead them.

I want to have faith in him. Idohave faith in him. The fates have been cruel already, though, and all I can see is my sisters and my soulmate and even my aunt, all running to their deaths while I stand by and slowly go insane from the grief of it all.

I can’t change that.

I can’t ask him not to do this when so many lives are at stake, his own included. We won’t be able to hide this bond forever, and there’s nowhere we can escape that Cepheus can’t find us. We need this rebellion. The people need it. Danica needs it.

All of that is beyond my control, but there is one thing that isn’t.

I can make sure Ari understands how I feel. That he is bolstered by whatever protection and love and peace a fully sealed bond will give him.

“Ask me now,” I say softly, intruding upon his similarly racing thoughts.

He looks down at me, hope and relief warring for dominance in his fathomless sea-green eyes.

He stands in front of me, cupping my face in his massive hand. His thumb gently trails from my forehead to my chin, his fingers threading through my hair.

“Melodi.” His voice reverberates in the deepest part of my mind, the private place that is reserved for him alone.

It’s just my name, but already, tears burn my eyes.

“Will you consent to share your life and your body and your mind with me? Will you belong to me as wholly as I belong to you now?”

My entire being reacts to his words. Shivers race along my skin, anticipation thrumming between us until it becomes something almost painful, this encompassing need to say yes. It doesn’t feel like I’m being coerced by the bond, though, or like I’m out of control.

It just feels like the part of me that knows in my soul that Ari is my perfect match, begging me to let us both feel whole.

“Yes,” I say, letting him feel the certainty in my response.

It’s a risk, knowing Cepheus—and everyone else—will be able to sense it if we seal the bond. But one way or another, things will be over tomorrow, and I will not let them end with us apart.

Ari’s thoughts mirror mine, his desire mingling along with my own as his hand trails down my arm, lighting my skin on fire everywhere he touches. There is a question in his thoughts, a request for permission.

“Yes,” I say again.

Our first kiss was rushed, frenzied, almost defiant.

This one is agonizingly slow. Ari starts with his lips at my forehead, then he traces a gentle arc down to my lips. Warmth spreads down to my toes, awareness coursing through my body as I arch into him.

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