It’s more than just a dry joke. It means, after it’s over, I’ll be human. No matter what, once Varia and the valkerax are stopped, I’ll become human. My life with Lucien after this, all human. All mortal. All pain and slow healing and wrinkles and old age and sagging. And I’m dying for every bit of it. Repeatedly. Until our goal can be achieved.

Lucien seems to always know when I’m getting too lost in my own unheart. I don’t know who taught him, or if he just knows me by now—my tells, my expressions. The price of showing him my best and worst moments, I suppose. He scoops me out of the water easily, arms straining but strong, and smiles down at me.

“Busy thinking, are you?” he asks lightly. My face heats, unbearably hot despite the water.

“Trying to,” I sniff. “But a certain someone with his hands on my thighs is making it very difficult.”

He leans in, dark hair dripping into his eyes, dropping cool water on my burning face as his lips skim mine.

“Shall I make it more so?” he murmurs.

“And why would you want to do that?” I ask innocently.

“Because you’re gorgeous, you silly thing.”

His fingers tighten into my legs, pressing the lush skin there like feather pillows under strain and all I can think about is a bed, with him in it, with me in it, and I give in first, for once. He tastes like salt, like honey and bread, and a flick of my tongue on his and the moment changes. His eyes search mine, and I search his face, looking for permission.

We give it to each other with wordless smirks.

And then I’m squirming out of his arms and both of us are racing for the sand, for our shoes, for the steps, Malachite calling after us but both of us ignoring it, ignoring everything but peering into each volcanic rock room of the Archives’ long hall looking for somewhere safe, somewhere just for us. A perfect room is the one with a bed— a cot, really—and a window overlooking the sea. When Lucien shuts the door, all our frantic energy suddenly closes in, solidifies, and in the quiet, the prince just stares at me, and me at him.