Page 17 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

“Once mated, it becomes difficult for mates to separate for long periods of time,” Caspian explained, still tracing lines across my palm. “It weakens them. And an outright rejection of the bond...”

“What?” I pushed.

“It can be fatal.”

“You thought I might reject you?” My heart beat a little faster, and I checked myself. Of course he had worried I’d reject him. I’d been the one to insist on having time to decide whether or not to stay.

“I didn’t want totrapyou, Marina,” he clarified, looking up and meeting my eyes with a ferocity that made heat pool low in my core. “Everything was so new between us, and I promised you a choice. And Iwilllet you leave, Marina, if you decide to return to your people. If you don’t want this, I will watch you walk away even if it fucking kills me. But I’m so in love with you that it’s the only thing I can think about, and I’m done pretending otherwise. The choice is still yours—will always be yours—but I chooseyou,even if it destroys me.”

For a long moment, a tense bubble of silence grew between us. Caspian watched me intently, defiantly, as if waiting for me to reject him. Something snapped so tight between us that my breath hitched.

There was that tiny damned voice in my head that warned me that this couldn’t be. That my parents would never accept us. That our romance would be as doomed as that of the sea and sky in Caspian’s ballad. Thatwhat I was about to do would change everything so irreparably that I would never be able to go back.

I snuffed it out like a candle and took Caspian’s face between my hands, more certain than I had ever been of anything.

“I choose you too.”

We collided, our kiss saying more than I could convey with words. Tongue and teeth and panting breaths all screamedyes, I’m yours, take me, and the way Caspian kissed me back told me he understood.

He pulled me tight to him, crushing me deliciously as he deepened the kiss. His tongue swept over mine and a little breathy moan escaped me as I practically climbed into his lap.

“Fuck, Marina,” he gritted out between nipping, punishing kisses. “I want you so badly.”

“Then take me,” I breathed, my hands going to his trousers. “Please, Caspian.”

He caught my hand with a sound that was half laugh, half groan of frustration. “You have a head wound,” he said, cupping the back of my neck and pulling far enough away that his lips were just out of reach.

“I feel fine,” I lied, trying to ignore the pounding in my temples.

“You’re a shit actress,” he teased, nipping my lower lip in an infuriating mockery of a kiss. “And I’m not taking you for the first time in the healing wing in a tiny cot that will barely hold my weight.”

“And I thank you for that,” came a voice from the end of the hall.

I flushed, attempting to pull away from Caspian and wriggle off his lap. He held me fast.

“You’re welcome,” Caspian replied, completely unembarrassed that we had just been caught in a rather compromising position by a siren femaleI didn’t recognize. “Please tell me I can take her away from here so I don’t scandalize your other patients.”

“After I examine her, yes.” She gave Caspian an exasperated look, then promptly turned her attention to me and smiled warmly. “My name is Mira. I’m one of the healers here. Can I look at your injury, please?”

I nodded, then winced as pain lanced through my skull. Mira was courteous enough not to comment on the disheveled state of the gown I’d been changed into, and I tried to cover myself up properly as she unwrapped the bandages around my head.

Caspian just smirked like a cat.

“This is healing nicely,” she said, cool fingers moving my hair aside and making my scalp tingle a little. “But you’re to keep it bandaged for at least one more day. Deep breath, please.”

I obliged as Mira pressed something cold against my back. Caspian’s smirk faltered slightly as a thin wheeze escaped my lungs.

“And how long have you been wheezing?”

“Just since the last dose of medicine Caspian gave me.” I had wanted Caspian to introduce me to my miracle healer, although I would have preferred it to be under less fraught circumstances. “Was that your medicine?”

I glanced at Caspian, and he still looked like he wanted to eat me alive, his eyes intense and piercing. I swallowed, trying to stifle my blush.

“It was,” she confirmed, moving to my front. She pressed the cold thing, a tube that looked to be made of some kind of wood, to my chest. “Another deep breath,” she commanded as she pressed her pointed ear to the end of the tube that wasn’t touching my skin.

I obliged and tried to ignore the way Caspian’s gaze flicked to my lips.

Mira stepped back, frowning at me a little. “Well, you are well enough to leave under His Majesty’s care, Your Highness.” I blinked at the title, but she continued, “But no vigorous activity for at least two more days.” She said this glaring at Caspian, who grinned innocently. I knew I was bright red as she turned back to me. “And I’d like you to return tomorrow morning so I can discuss your lungs.”