Chapter <b>81 </b>


    The Council was go


    But the presence lingered


    Their scent–old parchment, stale incense, <b>cold </b>metal still clung to the halls like mildew that refused to. Servants moved quietly, whispers trailing behind them. No one spoke of what happened aloud, but everyone felt it. The house had gone still. Suspended. Waiting


    I sat in the garden behind the estate, still barefoot from shifting. My body wrapped in a simple robe, my skin kissed by thete afternoon sun, cold.


    <b>I </b>could still hear Marsen’s words in my ears.


    Magic <b>has </b>a price


    Francesco joined me in silence, I didn’t it. Not at first. He just stood there, watching me with those storm gray eyes of his, trying to read what I wasn’t saying.


    When he finally lowered himself beside me, he didn’t speak right away. His shoulder brushed mine, grounding me


    “I would have torn them apart,” he


    The said after a long stretch of silence. “If you hadn’t held your <b>ground </b>like that?


    I nced at him. “You wouldn’t have. Not for them. Not now. You’re not that boy anymore.


    He exhaled a softugh. “You’re right. I’m worse


    Hamiled, faintly, “You’re stronger”


    Francesco turned to face


    reaching for my hand and curling it into his. His palm was warm and calloused, his grip steady, reassuring.


    “They’lle back,” I said, my voice soft. “They won’t stop


    pwatching You know that, right?


    “I want them to watch,” he said. “I want the entire realm to watch


    Itilted my head, unsure what he meant


    “I want them to see,” he continued, “what happens when they try to suppress a power that was never meant to be controlled by them. You were never meant to be hidden, Eine. And He paused, searching my face. “I won’t let them twist you into something you’re not.”


    <b>His </b>voice was raw with sincerity. It wrapped around my wounds like balm,


    I didn’t realize I was crying until he reached up to brush a tear from my check,


    “They didn’t scare me,” I whispered. “But they reminded me…


    He wasted


    “They reminded me of the people who once told me I was nothing. Powerless. Broken.”


    His jaw tightened. “You’re not“:


    “I know that now,” I said, my voice steadier. “But some part of me still remembers what it was like to believe them. To be that girl who begged her mate not to reject her. To stand in front of <b>a </b>pack who turned their <b>backs </b>on her.”


    Francesco cupped my cheek, his thumb gently tracing a path beneath my eye. “They don’t get to define you. And neither does your pet.”


    I nodded, swallowing the ache in my throat.


    But now they!


    But also


    And I wanted to burn wi


    Aher a long silence, Task


    a Laver that mage always tak


    Francesco’s jam tightened. “He believes it. Because his poweres from fear,


    But if he’s right.


    “Then we’ll face it together?


    I stared at him, at the u


    promise in his eyes.


    wasn’t just saying it.


    Even if Mika’s power came with a cost-


    d–he would stay


    leaned my head against his shoulder “Do you think my mag


    ves your


    “No,” he said immediately.


    mediately. “What scares me is the thought of yo


    1med “Then i won’t.”


    We stayed like that for a long while, wrapped in silence, wrapped in each other. The sot hush of wind in the trees whispered above us, a sunlight spilled through the leaves, painting everything in hues iber and rose gold


    warm around my


    s fingers resting |–


    s edge of my robe like a silent vow–mine


    It felt like the world had exhaled for a moment. Like the storm had passed and left something wh


    “I hated watching them look at you like that,” Francesco murmured, his voice low and rough against the shell of my


    I tilted my head, brushing my nose along his jaw. “I didn’t notice them once you


    stood beside me.


    He smiled faintly. “You weren’t supposed to carry that weight


    “I didn’t,” I whispered, cing my hand over his heart. “You were there. Every step”


    The moment hung between <b>us</b>, warm


    eavy with unspoken things. I turned my face up to his, and his eyes found mine–smoky gray, but clearer


    ke all the shadows that had ever lived in him had made peace with my light.


    He leaned closer, his breath brushing against my lips. “I would burn the world for you, Eine.”


    I can’t help but smile “You already lit the match the moment you chose me,” whispered back


    Then his mouth was on


    was on mine.


    There was nothing hesitant about the kiss. No restraint. No apologies. His lips wire warm and fierce, parting mine as his hand slid <b>up </b>my back, pulling me fully into him.


    Imeted under his touch, the robe slipping slightly down one shoulder, but neither of us cared. My hands tangled in his hair, pulling him closer, needing


    of the man was


    Law me not as a nurse, not as prophery, but as his


    He shifted suddenly, riting to his knees and pulling me into hisp.


    againd him. The heat between us crackled like tig) ming


    | pasped into his mouth an his hands gripped my hips,


    ty prest, every breath


    “You have no idea what it does to me,” he said, voice horse, tips grazing my


    . “to see you standing like


    “I’m yours,” I breathed, arching into him as he kissed the hollow of my throat, his tongue flicking agent my poise “But you’re ass mine.”


    He groaned, low and primal, as my fingers trailed down his chest, undoing the buttons of h again, his kiss deepening with a hunger that send heat spiraling low in my belly.


    (by one. “Wways,” he seon


    ng my mouth


    I could feel the tension in him–restraint at was with desire. He wanted to take me right there in the garden, beneath the open sky, where the moon would soon rise and see all of me. And goddess, I wanted him to:


    I reached for the belt at my robe, loosening it slowly, watching his eyes darken as the silk slipped open. His breath caught. “ine…”


    “Make me forget them,” I whispered, volte trembling. “Make me remember what it’s like to feel wanted. Worshipped”


    He didn’t answer with words


    Francescoid back gently against the mossy stone bench, his mouth exploring my corbone, my chest, my stomach, reverent and desperate His hands mapped every inch of me like he was learning a sacred text–memorizing, cherishing


    And when he finally entered me, it wasn’t rough. It wasn’t rushed.


    It was a iming


    A ceremony of flesh and soul


    We moved together in slow, aching harmony, the garden around us spinning into nothing. His name was a prayer on my lips. Mine was a grow! in his throat. Every thrust, every sigh, every whispered promise was fine and forgiveness and forever, folded into one.


    When release came, it tore through me like <b>a </b>sunrise–shattering and gentle. I cried out into the crook of his neck, holding onto him like he was the only thing tethering me to the world.


    He came secondster, biting down softly on my shoulder, muffling a groan that sounded almost like my name,


    And then we stayed like that–antwined, breathless, trembling. The sweat cooling on our skin. His forehead pressed to mine, his thumb stroking the <b>curve </b>of my waist as if afraid to let me go


    “I love you,” he said suddenly, voice breaking


    I froze


    And then I smiled..


    “know” I whispered. “Because I feel it. Every time you look at me like I’m not broken.”


    His breath caught. Then he kissed me again–softer this time,


    Just lips against lips


    A promise