Chapter 208
Watch him exit with Ronan and Kade following behind.
“Come on, babe,” I whisper in Aria’s ear, taking her smaller hand in mine as I guide us out of the
room.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
I shrug. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
We walk down a corridor I’ve never been in before. The passageways are darker, less visited than
others, and I can’t seem to recall if we’ve planned to clear out this side of the mountain.
“I’ve been waiting for the right moment to bring you all here. I found it a few days ago when I was
on patrol inspecting the less used parts of the mountain,” Theo says.
He reaches a shadowy alcove and keeps walking until he disappears through it.
We all follow through the shadows until a pinprick of light can be seen on the far end of this hidden
passage. The cool air breaks through the warmth of the mountain, and before we know it, we are
outside on a decent side platform along the side of the mountain. There are small tufts of grass and
smooth earth beneath us, and above, a clear sky lit by countless twinkling stars.
Theo takes a seat on the ground, gesturing for us to join him.
I settle in on the ground and lean back, looking up at the navy endless sky.
Our bond wraps around us like silk; it slips over my skin, gathering the jagged edges of my thoughts
and smoothing them together. It leaves me adrift in the oneness we created with easter. The growing
sense of losing the feeling of “other.”
I feel like I’m home.
And I guess I am when I’m with them.
I look over at Kade, Theo, and Ronan, wondering, marveling at how I thought they were important
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before our bond, and now I can see what I felt for them was just the beginning. We were all just waiting for Aria to make our closeness make sense.
“It’s beautiful up here,” Aria whispers into the night as if she doesn’t want to break the peaceful silence but can’t keep the words in just the same.
The wind blows, causing the leaves to rustle around us.
It feels almost unreal.
“I missed this,” I admit quietly. “Having time together. Some nights I realize we never really got enough of those before everything started.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing. The trials we faced together, the ones we’re facing, they paint a clearer picture about who we are and how we fit than we could have ever known with just an exchange of words,” Kade says.
Theo chuckles. “So is all it takes to get some poetry out of you?”
“It’s the stars. Really give me a word–on,” Kade jokes.
Ronan rubs his hand down Kade’s arm affectionately. “You don’t have to pretend; we already know
how soft you are.”
“Move your hand a little to the left and see if you can still call me soft with a straight face,” he
encourages.
Aria laughs. “You know what he means. I love how playful you are, but I love when you’re real too.
It’s one of my favorite things about you.”
Kade is quiet, but I can feel the careful delight flooding the bond.
“I forgot how many stars there were,” Ronan murmurs.
Theo reaches over until their fingers find each other. “They’ve always been there. I think we’ve just
been forgetting to stop and look.”
His words settle heavily inside me. He’s right. We’ve spent so long staring toward tomorrow,
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preparing for the next trial, the next battle, and we forgot to see today.
maybe his is a reminder of how much today matters.
“So,” I say, “When this is over, what do you all want?”
“I want to sleep for a week,” Theo says.
We laugh.
“A month,” Kade corrects.
Aria smiles softly. “I want a garden and a studio that overlooks it.”
Theo squeezes her hand. “You’ll have it.”
Kade stares toward the stars. “I want pups.”
I grin at his bluntness. ” Fuck. Jumping straight into fatherhood, aye?”
“When everything settles. I’ve always wanted a house bursting with them. Alive, you know. I figure it
will be easier to achieve with all of you helping me.”
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