Chapter 180 Always Yours
Always Yours
Althea felt terrified, but Gavriel’s arms around her were enough to steady her. His warmth always had a way of calming the storm inside her, even now when everything felt uncertain.
“Did you eat dinner already?” Gavriel asked quietly.
“Not yet,” she murmured, still leaning against his chest.
“I’ll have the cook prepare something. I’ll eat with you.” He gently guided her face up, wanting to see her eyes.
“Even if the bond gets severed, I’ll still feel the same way,” he said. “It isn’t the matebond keeping me with you. It’s us, Althea. Our hearts.”
She nodded, a soft smile forming. She believed that too.
“But Zander will use my life against you,” she admitted. “We don’t know what he wants… or why he wants me. And if Candice is right, then maybe Zander and I are connected somehow.” Her hand moved to the key hanging from her necklace. “He knows about this. And I think… he knew my mother.”
Her throat tightened. “Gavriel… if he heals your sister completely, the covenant of binding will start working on me. I’ll die. Slowly. And from how confident he sounded, he’s the only one who can undo it. He’ll use that to force you into letting him take me.”
“I will kill him,” Gavriel growled, once again with rage in his voice.
She touched his arm, knowing exactly what he was thinking. Even if he wanted to tear Zander apart, her safety would stop him. He would endure anything if it meant keeping her alive.
Althea lifted her eyes to him. “Gavriel… do you trust me?”
His expression darkened, he seemed insulted she even needed to ask. “Of course I do.”
“Then just go with the flow,” she whispered. “Let things play out the way they need to. I have a plan… and I’ll come back to you. I promise.”
Gavriel’s jaw tightened. “Go with the flow? Althea, he wants to take you from me. He wants to use your life as leverage. How do you expect me to stay still?”
She held his hand, squeezing gently. “Because if you fight blindly, he wins. If you show him how much power he has over you, he wins. Zander is smart. He’s calculating. And he already knows you’ll do anything to keep me alive. So let him think he’s leading the game.”
Gavriel looked like he wanted to argue, but he forced himself to stop. Her eyes… the quiet resolve he saw there… it made something inside him still.
“You’re asking me to pretend,” he muttered.
“Yes,” she said softly. “Just until tomorrow. Just until I find out what he truly wants. If he wanted to kill me or harm me, he would’ve done it before. Instead, he helped Princess Riela. He even promised to return her. He’s chasing something else.”
Gavriel cupped her face. His fingers trembled slightly, betraying the fear he wouldn’t admit.
“I hate this. I hate that he touched your mind. I hate that he knows anything about you.” His voice broke into a low whisper. “I hate that I can’t protect you from this.”
“You are protecting me,” she said. “You being here… you believing me… that’s enough.”
He leaned his forehead against hers, breathing hard as if holding himself back from tearing the world apart. “Althea,” he murmured, “if anything happens to you, I—”
She silenced him by placing a hand over his mouth. “Nothing will happen to me,” she said with certainty she didn’t fully feel but needed to say. “Zander will bring your sister back. The covenant won’t kill me since he seems confident in saving me form it. I will return to you. I promise that with everything I have.”
For a moment, Gavriel just stared at her, searching for any sign of hesitation.
Finally, he pulled her into his arms again, holding her so tightly it almost hurt. “You’re mine,” he whispered against her hair. “And I’ll wait right here. No matter what game he thinks he’s playing… promise me you’ll come back to me. Because if you don’t, I swear, I’ll tear his world apart just to get you back.”
His voice was deep and steady, an oath carved into stone.
Althea closed her eyes, letting his warmth sink into her one more time. Even with fear clawing at her spine, she clung to that promise between them. Tomorrow would be dangerous. But she would come back to him. She had to.
Instead of giving him a reply, Althea rose onto her toes and kissed him. It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t desperate. It was soft at first, a quiet brush of her lips against his but there was something trembling underneath it. A need she couldn’t name. A fear she didn’t want to voice.
Gavriel froze for half a heartbeat, surprised by how gently she kissed him… then he kissed her back, his hand rising to the back of her head, holding her as if she might slip away if he let go.
For some reason, she wanted to feel him. To be close to him. To memorize the warmth of his breath and the steady beat of his heart. She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. She didn’t know what Zander would do, or what price she would have to pay.
But she knew this… she wanted this moment with him.
The least thing she could do was give him every part of her she could while she still could.
Her fingers curled into his shirt, pulling him closer. Gavriel responded instantly, one arm wrapping around her waist as if instinct told him she was trying to slip away.
“Althea…” he murmured against her lips, his voice low, strained, almost pained. “What are you doing?”
She shook her head slightly, her eyes soft and full of an emotion he couldn’t quite grasp yet.
“I want to feel you,” she whispered. “Just… be with me tonight.”
Then Althea took a small step back and slowly let her dress fall away, never breaking eye contact with the man she had come to love with all her heart. Her lips curved into the sweetest, most genuine smile as she murmured, “I’m always yours.”