KAEL
I couldn't remember the last time I felt this alive. It was like being drunk without a drop of liquor, high without a line of poison, just Aria, laughing breathlessly against me as we stumbled down the hall, dripping salt water across the marble floor like two idiots who had no place in a hotel like this.
Her hand clutched mine, her hair plastered to her face, her cheeks glowing, and I swear I almost dropped to my knees right there. Because she was mine. Because she chose me. Because every time her smile split across her face, I fell deeper, and deeper, and deeper, into a place I knew I'd never claw my way out of.
God help me, I didn't want to.
But fear gnawed anyway, that quiet whisper that I was dreaming, that I'd wake up alone again and she'd vanish like smoke. It must've shown on my face, because Aria suddenly stopped, tugging me back by the shirt until I nearly crashed into her.
