Chapter 90 90
Annabeth's POV:
The day Marcus left for his reconnaissance mission was the longest day of my life.
Not because anything happened. The opposite, actually. Nothing happened. Breakfast, training, lunch, more training, dinner. Normal cabin routine, normal conversations, normal everything. Except for the fact that I knew, and Kaelen knew, and Marlen definitely knew, that tonight was going to be different.
She'd told me the night before. Sitting in the dark kitchen with her tea, dropping information like it was nothing. Marcus gone until morning. Lucian sleeping like the dead. The walls being thin but her room being far enough.
I'd barely slept after that. Spent the whole night staring at the ceiling, feeling Kaelen on the other side of the wall doing the same thing, both of us too wired to rest.
And now it was happening. Marcus had left an hour ago, his car disappearing down the dirt road into the darkness. Marlen had grabbed Lucian and announced they were watching movies upstairs, her voice pointed in a way that made Lucian look confused but follow anyway.
The door to their room closed. The muffled sound of some action movie started playing.
And then it was just us.
Kaelen was doing the dishes. Actually doing the dishes, like this was a normal night, like his hands weren't shaking slightly as he scrubbed a plate that was already clean. I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way he kept not looking at me.
I walked up behind him and put my hand on his back.
He went completely still.
"The dishes can wait," I said.
He set down the plate. Turned off the water. Dried his hands on the towel hanging from the oven handle, slow and deliberate, like he was buying time. When he turned around his eyes were already starting to shift, that gold ring bleeding out from the center.
"Annabeth." His voice came out rough. "Are you sure about this? Because once we, I mean... the... the bond... it's permanent. There's no going back. For what I’ve heard, this we’ve been feeling of being connected is nothing compared to it."
"I know."
"And if something happens, if the Order finds us, you'll feel everything I feel. Every injury, every—"
"I know, Kaelen." I stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the heat coming off his body, that dragon warmth that always ran hotter than human. "I've known for months. I've thought about it every single day since you told me what it meant. And I'm sure. I promise I am."
He reached up and touched my face. His thumb traced my cheekbone, my jaw, the corner of my mouth. Gentle.
"I love you," he said. "I need you to know that. Whatever happens tonight, whatever happens after, I love you. Not because of the bond, not because of some dragon destiny thing. Because you're you. Because you saved me in that empty street and then kept saving me every day after."
My throat got tight. "Kaelen..."
"I'm serious. Before I met you I was just surviving. Going through the motions, taking care of Marlen and Lucian, running from the Order. But I wasn't living. Not really. And then you showed up with your attitude and your red dragon fire and your refusal to back down from anything, and I..." He shook his head. "I didn't know it was possible to feel like this. I didn't know I was allowed to want something for myself."
"You're allowed," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "You're allowed to want things. You're allowed to be happy."
"I am happy. Right now, standing here with you, I'm happier than I've ever been in my entire life."
I kissed him before he could say anything else, because if he kept talking like that I was going to start crying and that wasn't exactly the mood I was going for. His hands found my waist immediately, pulling me against him, and I felt the solid warmth of his body through our clothes.
"My room," I said against his mouth.
He pulled back just enough to look at me. "You sure you don't want—"
"Your couch is terrible and we both know it. And it is in the fucking middle of the house, I want some real privacy."
He laughed, this low sound that vibrated through his chest and into mine. "Fair point."
I took his hand and led him across the living room. Through the door to my small room with its single bed and its window facing the river.
No interruptions this time. No one walking in. No excuses to stop.
Kaelen stood in the middle of the room, and for a second he just looked at me. Really looked, like he was memorizing every detail, like he wanted to remember this exact moment for the rest of his life.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing. Just..." He shook his head slightly. "You're beautiful. I know that's a cliché thing to say but I don't have better words. You're standing there in the moonlight and you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"You're stalling."
"Maybe a little."
"Nervous?"
"Terrified, actually." He smiled, self-deprecating. "Which is stupid because we've done... I mean, we've already..." He gestured vaguely. "You know."
"I know." I crossed to him, close enough that our chests almost touched. "But this is different."
"Yeah." His hands settled on my hips, thumbs finding the strip of bare skin between my shirt and my jeans. "This is different."