Chapter 1

1

RAINA

“ W hy did no one tell me this was a formal thing?” Rhonin says as I enter the dining hall.

Everyone’s here except for Finn, which stings my heart.

Mari sets a dish on the table, leaning beside Rhonin, quite close. “I think you look handsome, sir,” she says with an admiring expression. “I like the shorter hair and the smooth face.”

“He does look handsome,” Hel counters from my side, her voice stiff and slightly territorial. “Always.”

Every head turns toward me and my sisters.

“Perhaps we overdid it a little,” Nephele mutters under her breath, because every eye in the room is wide.

Alexus heads straight for me. His eyes grow dark as he skims a gaze over my loose hair and down to my neck where his gift resides. He bought me a simple gold necklace with a single pearl in the center, like my own little moon. It’s perfect.

When he reaches me, his eyes fall to my exposed cleavage, then further down to the witch’s marks trailing up my leg, visible through the slit in my dress.

He leans close to my ear, sending a rogue chill across my skin. “You look good enough to eat.”

My face warms as he leads me to my chair and pulls it out for me before taking his place at my side.

Discreetly, he slips his hand over mine and whispers, “You make that necklace even more beautiful.”

I shove away any worry about having eyes on us and kiss his cheek, feeling the slight stubble already growing along his jaw.

His mouth turns up. “Why, thank you.”

Grinning like a fool, I turn back to the table. Poor Rhonin, in his plain white day tunic and brown trousers, stands frozen with indecision.

When Hel saunters toward him, she passes Mari on the way and gives her a look from the corner of her eye. But Rhonin’s attention is solely on Hel. With her curves on display beneath her clinging emerald gown, he blinks with astonishment, taking her in.

“Why are you gawking?” she asks. “Are you so used to seeing me covered in filth and wielding weapons that you’ve forgotten that I’m also a lady?”

“Not at all.” He shakes his head insistently and moves her chair back from the table. “Okay, maybe a little. But if I forgot, I’ve certainly been reminded now.”

She looks up at him and smiles.

In her silky blue dress that shows off her slender yet strong frame, Nephele stalks toward the last open setting at the table. The one beside Joran. She grabs the back of her chair before he gets a chance.

“I can seat myself. I don’t need your help for anything.”

He drenches her in a wicked once-over. “Anything? Are you so sure?”

With a look that says she’s seconds from gouging his eyes out with a dinner fork, Nephele jerks her chair back. “Positive.”

Once we’re all set and no one is killing anyone, Mari and Yaz finish bringing the dinner in. The food here has been plentiful, but I haven’t felt like devouring a full meal until now. There’s a rich, red wine being passed around—not that I need more—and roasted chicken and baked fish swimming in a fragrant yellow sauce, and roasted vegetables and breads and even spiced pies for dessert. My mouth waters and my stomach grumbles at the sight.

Zahira and Yaz stand at the head of the table, arm in arm, wine glasses in hand.

“A toast,” Zahira says. “To everyone in this room. May the Ancient Ones show each of you intrepid warriors the truths you need to see and may Loria light your paths with clarity.”

We clang our glasses together, and though Zahira’s words resonate in each person’s expressions, it seems our stomachs resound even louder. We dig in.

It’s obvious that everyone tries their best to be reserved and polite, but I’m apparently not the only one whose appetite is returning tonight. Plates are filled, and most of the chatter goes quiet because our mouths are stuffed with food.

As I eat, I can’t help but wonder about Finn. If he’s all right. If he’s eating a hearty meal. Hel said he is well cared for at the Bitter Barrel thanks to Harmon and Zahira’s generosity, but I can’t help but worry.

Across the table, Rhonin hands Hel a piece of warm raisin loaf which he smothers in butter and honey. “Try it. I bet you’ll love it.”

The sound that leaves my best friend when she bites into the bready goodness is a deep, unexpected moan that makes Rhonin’s mouth fall open.

She eats the whole thing as he watches her lips, then she licks the honey from her fingertips. “Gods, Rhonin. That almost earned you a sticky, wet kiss.”

Rhonin closes his mouth and swallows. His face turns three shades of red.

“Maybe next time?” he offers, and I nearly choke on my wine.

Callan laughs under their breath, Keth and Jaega snicker, and Alexus stares at his plate, a wide smile on his lips. Sweet Rhonin. I find myself wondering how many chances he was granted to find love before now, being in the Eastland army and all.

Dinner and too many glasses of wine pass far more quickly than I expected, given that our little band of fighters attacked the spread like they do everything else. As everyone chats, Alexus strokes my leg under the table, causing my overly full stomach to flip. Perhaps eating a large meal and downing nearly an entire bottle of wine before having possibly the best sex of my life wasn’t the best decision.

With a grip of my knee, he stands and folds his hands around the back of my chair. “Raina and I are going to graciously dismiss ourselves so we can turn in early. It’s been a long day.”

“Exhausted,” I sign, out of a nervous need to over-explain, and Hel translates with a smile.

Everyone knows we’re lying. It’s evident on their grinning faces. Except for Joran who, I realize, stopped caring about me and Alexus spending time together weeks ago.

I dismiss the thought and stand as Alexus pulls out my chair and motions for me to lead the way toward the veranda. “I’m right behind you,” he says with a wink.

“I bet you are,” Zahira says, and the room breaks into laughter. Alexus just smiles and presses his hand to the small of my back.

“Come on. Let’s go have some fun.”

The moment he closes the creaky garden gate, Alexus sweeps me into his arms and carries me down the flagstone path toward the lighthouse. Only he veers left, taking us through a labyrinth of tall hedges into a nook at the garden’s edge where the last of the sun’s dying rays barely linger. The space is filled with the beginning shadows of nightfall, the briny scent of sea and sand, and the aroma of winter jasmine that grows in a thick, white blanket over the stone wall.

There, beneath the setting sun and rising moon, with waves crashing against the rocks below, Alexus sets me on my feet, tosses my shoes aside on the grass, and presses me against the fragrant blooms. I cling to his strong arms as he kisses me deeply, licking into my mouth, hungrily exploring. His hands are firm and warm on my waist, his grasp sure as he draws me flush against him. He’s already so hard that the pressure of his desire makes my heart skip a beat.

“I hope you aren’t as tired as you claimed.” He traces the shell of my ear with his tongue. “Because it’s going to be a very long and eventful night if I have anything to say about it.” He holds my chin between his thumb and forefinger and peers into my eyes. “I’m going to make you come on my cock in every position imaginable, Raina Bloodgood. Starting now.”

There’s no other warning for the delicious warmth of his power as it skims a teasing touch along our bond. I simply feel that familiar sensation, the air sparking alive with electricity, tickling my skin. My body is buzzing from the wine, so I reach for Alexus's threads with my mind, ready to draw his power into me like our night at Winterhold.

“Stop that, you little rebel.” A quiet, deep laugh resonates from his throat as he smacks my ass, making me gasp and arch into him. “I told you. Tonight, it's my turn.” He grips me tight, kneading my flesh as he presses his erection against me again. “Close your eyes,” he whispers, “and let me have my way with you.”

An insuppressible smile spreads across my mouth, and as though he holds some spell over me, my eyes flutter shut. Before, at Winterhold, I hadn’t known what I was doing when it came to tangling our magick, and Alexus’s power had been so weak that he’d had no other choice but to let me lead us. And yet, every moment had been divine regardless.

This time, there’s no searching for threads at all. No clinging to them with my mind. No novice at the helm, unsure what to look for, unsure what to do. This time, behind my eyelids, the threads of Alexus Thibault's magick shine, limned with golden light, already vining along our bond at a ravenous pace.

My heart beats faster with anticipation, every twist and weave heating my already burning blood. I cannot imagine what it will be like with him in complete control, his power so much stronger now than it was before. How can we bond any closer than what this night holds for us? Bonded not only in body but also through the rune, through the tangling of our magickal threads, and through the sharing of power.

We will be one.

No sooner does that thought travel across my mind, than Alexus’s power branches through me. A wave of stunning energy rolls over my skin, setting every nerve ending in my body on fire. That power intertwines with my own magick, sending a trickle of pleasure straight to my core.

“Breathe,” he commands, smiling against my mouth.

Obediently, I suck in a deep drink of night air saturated with the honeyed taste of his ancient magick. “Now lift your dress” he says, his voice rough with desire. “And spread those beautiful legs for me.”

At his words, my heart thunders with longing, but I hesitate.

“Harmon? The boys?” I sign. They live in the garden house.

“Busy at the stables because I asked them to be,” Alexus replies. “I want to lick you and fuck you under the stars if you’ll let me. I want you to think of me every single time you walk through a garden or hear the ocean or smell jasmine or feel a godsdamn night breeze on your bare skin. I want tonight to be something you can’t possibly ever forget.”

That sends a flash of lust through my body that is so desperate I gather my dress around my hips in a hurry and spread my legs.

As I stand there, waiting, I realize that he hasn’t asked me how I want him yet. Hard and rough or deep and slow. I don’t think it’s up for debate tonight. He means to give me everything.

With that hungry look in his eyes, he lowers to one knee and slides his hands up the curves of my thighs. Even that simple touch sends another bolt of pleasure zinging through me.

For a moment, he angles his head in a curious tilt. Then he brushes his fingertips back and forth between my legs. It’s hard to focus on anything but the white-hot need raging inside me, but when a deep and seductive sound rumbles in the back of Alexus’s throat—something torn between a moan and a growl—I blink away the haze of lust and look down at him.

He’s seen the lace.

With a lick of his lips, he meets my stare. His green eyes are bright as sea glass held to the light of a high-summer sun—and filled with hunger. He strokes the delicate material again, and I flinch at the tempting contact.

“I want you in nothing but this and the necklace,” he says, something dark and wild hovering at the edge of his voice.

It takes a matter of seconds before my sash is untied and my gown is gone, reduced to a puddle at my feet. As I stand before him, naked save for the scraps of red lace Yazmin calls undergarments, ready to make love against this stone wall if I must, another sound leaves Alexus.

It’s a sound borne of appreciation and desire, escaping his lips as he admires my bare skin.

He reaches up and brushes his thumb across my nipple. The dark pink flesh is hard and peeking through the lace. The sensation of that touch is tenfold what it would be without our power joined along the bond, making me quiver. I can hardly bear it, yet at the same time, I must have more.

The leather tie holding his hair falls away as I slide my hands into his dark locks and clutch him to my breast. In response, he flicks his tongue over the tip, teasing and biting to the brink of pain, the way he knows I like.

I still can’t wrap my mind around how well he knows me. How well he’s known me since that first night at Winterhold. I never have to instruct or guide him. He just knows how to touch me, how to take me, how to please me.

I hold him tighter, fisting my hands at the roots of his hair until I’m panting. The action seems to drive him because he grips my waist and his mouth becomes hungrier, his touch rougher, and I find myself questioning what the tangling of our power does to him. Is he close to exploding like me?

Unexpectedly, he yanks at the lace garment covering my chest, ripping the flimsy top from its silken straps, and throws it aside. I suppose that answers my question.

Alexus slides his palms across my exposed breasts, my waist, and over my ass, where he gathers the lace of my panties in his fist and tugs, putting gentle pressure where I throb for him. I gasp, and a wicked tilt crooks his lips when he grins up at me. He keeps tugging, using rhythmic movements to torture me, knowing exactly what he’s doing, all while moving from breast to breast, sucking me into his mouth, rolling his tongue and teeth around my nipples.

Gods, I could climax from this alone, and I half-think I might. But Alexus lets go of the lace and draws back, leaving me pulsing with need.

This night is far from over, so I take my hands from his hair and rest against the soft, crushed flowers at my back, trying my best for patience. With that same rougher touch, Alexus trails his strong hands and warm mouth down my abdomen, skims his broad palms over my hips, and slips his tongue along the edge of the lace.

“Red,” he whispers, gripping the back of my thigh. “I love you in red.”

He lifts my knee over his shoulder, opening me to him. I can barely remain standing when he leans forward and drags his teeth over me, through the fabric, again and again, until I’m grinding shamelessly in time with his mouth, yearning to feel his tongue buried inside me.

Reading my mind, he hooks a finger in the lace and pulls the material aside. The night wind off the sea is tinged with the slightest cool edge, enough that a chill races over my skin at the exposure.

I drop my head back against the wall and listen as my pulse pounds harder and harder in my ears. I’ve never been so starved for anything or anyone in my life. Never needed someone so much it hurts.

Again, I thread my fingers into Alexus’s hair. His mouth is so close that when I curve my hips, I can feel the damp warmth of his panting breaths. All I can think about is yesterday, straddling his face, his cock in my mouth, the bliss I felt when he came.

“Remember what I said that night at Winterhold?” he asks, looking up at me.

Thoughts ricochet around my mind. He said a lot of things the first night we made love.

“I told you that I was going to kiss you, and that you were going to feel it everywhere. That’s about to happen now, but with my power returned and our magick entwined, it will be far stronger. You won’t be able to walk out of here. Know that.”

I do already know this, in a sense, but I feel the warning in his words, the promise that I have no idea what I’m in for.

“You’re sure you’re ready?”

I nod and arch my hips toward him again in response, all but begging. If being with Alexus Thibault can possibly be any better tonight than all the times before, I welcome the torture.

When he leans in, every muscle in my body tightens expectantly. With a quick hand, he rips my undergarment from my body. That little glimpse of sudden barbaric behavior makes my nipples and clit harden, almost painfully.

Then his mouth is on me, licking a long line of inexplicable pleasure up my center, stopping only to suck that tender nub at my apex while flicking his tongue mercilessly, his magick flowing wild.

A brutal orgasm slams into me, radiating through every muscle, so powerful it robs me of breath. Gasping as stars dot my vision, I thrash against the jasmine wall, wanting more more more while simultaneously needing to flee. Because it’s too much. His tongue alone could obliterate me like grains of sand scattered on the wind.

I couldn’t run if I tried. Alexus uses his shoulders and a firm hand to pin me to the wall, forcing me to endure as he devours. Mindless, I grip my breasts, teasing my taut nipples, the action only increasing the bliss.

Roughly, Alexus pushes two fingers inside me. My body desperately grasps at him in response. “Yes,” he rasps, still flicking that gifted tongue as he fucks me deeply. “There’s that flutter I love so much. You come for me so beautifully, Raina.”

I writhe on his hand as he licks and nibbles, riding out the sudden climax until my vision returns. A handful of starlights light the falling night, illuminating my body so Alexus can see his fill. He holds me open, moving his fingers languorously in and out, laving the soft flesh around my entrance, until it feels more like a lover’s soothing caress.

When the ecstasy passes and the world is back to rights, I’m left thoroughly destroyed, and yet still so wanton it’s almost inconceivable. Alexus slips his fingers from my body and stands, tall and dark in the dimming twilight.

Not so gently, he leans close and pushes his fingers into my mouth. “Suck,” he says against my cheek. “Suck your sweet pussy off my fingers.”

A breathy whimper vibrates in my chest as I obey, tasting my release as I waver on trembling legs. He was right. He will have to carry me out of here when he’s finally finished with me. If I haven’t combusted to ash by then.

Alexus cups my breast and brings his head down to meet it, rolling his tongue and teeth around my nipple with magick-laced attention. His power rolls through me, and somehow, my body reacts again, my clit throbbing with need, my skin rising with goosebumps.

As though sensing the response, he withdraws his fingers from my mouth and presses his lips to mine, his kiss insistent and hungry as he strips free of his jacket and tosses it aside. Greedy, I open for him and suck on his tongue, tasting the honeyed flavor of his magick while I untuck his shirt from his fine trousers and tug it toward his head.

He pulls away just long enough to shed the garment, revealing all that glorious, corded muscle, and I set to unlacing his pants, working quickly, as though we might perish if he isn’t inside me in a matter of seconds.

I don’t even get his trousers unlaced enough that they’ll fall away before he frees his cock and closes my hand around its swollen girth. “Just like that,” he says as I stroke the silken skin covering his rigid length. “Fucking just like that.”

He presses his forehead to mine, and I slide my hand up and down in a rhythm I’ve come to know he likes. The shuddering sigh that leaves his chest and the wetness slicking his thick head sends a frisson of lust through me.

I run my thumb through that bead of cum, just as it threatens to fall, and bring it to my mouth instead. Alexus watches as I taste him, and then he buries his hands in my hair and crushes his mouth to mine, the velvet slide of our tongues a heady thing.

It’s been a matter of hours since we were together, since I buried him deep in my throat and made him beg for release. But there’s a desperation thrumming from both of us that I have never experienced before. A need so great that Alexus spins me around and flattens my hands against the wall.

“Spread your legs,” he commands, running his warm, rough palms over the curves of my ass. “Nice and wide.”

As I widen my stance, Alexus pulls my cheeks apart, exposing every hidden part of me. A wave of vulnerability and excitement washes over my skin and through my bones, two incongruent feelings at war inside me. There’s something about being taken from behind by Alexus, something that makes my heart beat harder with the knowing that, like this, I have no control. Like this, Alexus claims with animalistic need, a knowledge that makes my pulse pound like a drum in my ears.

For an excruciating moment, nothing happens. I can sense the starlights hovering at my hips, and feel their warmth. He likes to see me. Likes to take his time torturing me as he memorizes my body.

One hand leaves my ass while the other wraps itself in my hair, winding my locks around and around like a too-long rein. For a pregnant moment, I wait, thinking I will feel him at my entrance, that he will finally drive his cock into me after these many weeks without him. Instead, the hand in my hair tightens, and a stinging slap races across my backside. Then another, on the opposite side.

Gasping at the delicious pain, I go lightheaded, fists gripping the trellis buried beneath the soft jasmine. Every drop of blood in my body rushes to meet my skin where I’m certain pink handprints will form. Oddly enough, I want them to. I want to see evidence of him on my body, more than just the rune. I want to be so thoroughly marked by Alexus Thibault that anyone in the world could look at me and see him everywhere.

He leans into me, his erection nestled hard and warm against my ass, the soft hair on his chest tickling my shoulder blades as he gently draws my head back, angling my face to look upon his. Little starlights flicker between us, highlighting the golden flecks in his eyes and shadowing the strong planes of his handsome face.

“Mine.” He kisses me softly as he caresses my breast. “You know that, yes? You are mine, mon grah.”

I nod against his grip, tears dampening my eyes, because it’s true. It’s the last thing I would’ve ever imagined when I held the God Knife to his throat while Silver Hollow burned to cinders around us. But now it’s the one truth I know as well as I know my name, a truth that resonates so deep within I feel it in my soul.

“Now hold on.” He bites at my lip. “Because there’s no fucking way I can be gentle tonight.”

I stretch my fingers, and then clench the wooden slats covering the wall again, the vines cool and slick with sea mist rolling in off the waves. I brace myself for the assault I know is coming, but there’s nothing that could prepare me for the feeling that shatters through me when Alexus Thibault grips my hips and mercifully penetrates to the hilt in a single thrust that drives a bolt of tantalizing magick and relief through my core.

A deep groan leaves him as he tries to push in even deeper, causing a ragged breath to tear from between my lips, like he’s telling me See? No one can reach you here. No one but me.

You. Are. Mine.

“I could stay just like this for eternity.” His voice is husky, the edges dark with desire. “Buried inside you. I fucking swear.”

Not that I would mind. He feels so good I can hardly think, so good I’m certain that with a slip of my hand between my legs and a few deep grinds on his engorged tip, I would fracture from bliss. There isn’t a part of me he doesn’t fill, not a place where my body isn’t tested and tempted by his sheer size. I feel stretched, filled to the brim with his throbbing cock—and his magick.

He circles his hips, still planted so deep, and another wave of magickal pleasure chases through my blood. “When I come inside you,” he says, the hand in my hair tightening, “you’ll feel this cliffside tremor as I roar your name.”

Oh, gods. There isn’t a single thing I want more than to see him ruined by me again, but the thought of him roaring anything sparks worry. What if someone hears us?

That thought is quickly dissolved as Alexus begins to move in and out of me in long slides, holding onto my naked hip with his free hand. It’s only slow for a few moments, just enough time to give my body a chance to prepare for the powerful onslaught that follows.

“Fuck, you’re so swollen for me,” he groans, grinding and thrusting, the hard slap of our skin resounding through the night as his tempo increases. “So tight and warm and wet I can barely stand it, Raina.”

He slows again to temper his orgasm, but I push back against him and pump along his length, hard and fast. He said he couldn’t be gentle, but I still feel the ghost of his restraint, and I want him undone. I want this to be utterly destructive for us both. I want to wake up come morning sore and aching and bruised only to see claw marks down his back, crescent moons carved into his biceps.

He curses, over and over, remaining still as I ride him, the bite of pain at my scalp from his grip on my hair driving me to fuck him as brutally as I can.

Again, the heat of the starlights brush over my ass, their warmth then radiating across my sensitive flesh. “I need you to see this,” he says, his voice almost pained. “I need you to see how godsdamn beautiful you are.”

My stomach clenches, and my core aches. I can only imagine what he’s seeing, the view of us united, of my body taking all I can from him. Before I can even form the image in my mind, he pulls out and turns me around, pressing me back against the jasmine. I slide my hands over the curved, thick planes of his chest, over the mass of bulging muscle at his shoulders, and up into his hair. I’m hyper-aware of the chills on his skin, and the way his trousers sit low on his hips, his hard cock twitching between us.

Alexus folds a brawny arm around me and lifts. Instinctively, I wrap my legs around his narrow waist. It isn’t until he works one arm under my knee, followed by the other, that I realize what he’s doing. Suddenly, I’m being held in the air, my shoulders pressed to the flowers, my legs spread wide open for the ancient sorcerer standing between them.

His starlights twinkle and flutter, gathering into a soft orb of golden light between us. “Put my cock in your pussy,” he orders, and I, as ever, obey.

He cups my ass and curves my hips upward as I angle him toward my entrance. The feel of him pushing inside me is overwhelming, our magick and our bond humming with the sweetest vibration through every part of me. But I am wholly unprepared for what seeing him pumping in and out of my body does to me, how the sight of his stiff, unyielding cock, slick with my desire, completely annihilates me.

I move my hand to my clit, tugging upward so he can see as I chase the need building there. Alexus watches with that green gaze pinned to me, but not for long.

“Gods, Raina. I can’t…” He lifts his eyes, and I see the plea there.

He’s begging for mercy.

His mouth crashes into mine so hard our teeth clash. Neither of us even hesitates. We plunder each other’s mouths as he pounds into me almost violently, exactly the way I wanted, hard enough to bruise. In seconds, though, even that is not enough.

“Arms around my neck,” he says, just as he’d said our first night here when he carried me from the thermal pool.

I embrace him, and he shifts us so that my back is no longer touching the wall. Instead, his hands cradle my ass as he holds me upright on his cock and carries me into a beam of silver moonlight.

We stand in the middle of the garden, joined as intimately as two people can be joined. I look down upon his beautiful face, and though I say nothing, he somehow knows my thoughts.

“I would walk into the Shadow World for you,” he says. “I would fight armies and gods all alone and set fire to their world for you. Don’t you ever forget that.”

His words rattle something deep inside me, sending a shiver rippling down my spine. The devotion and promise that drenches each syllable is so real and true that it almost hurts my heart. Because I know he would do all those things, and I’m not sure the world would ever recover if he did.

With that, I kiss him once more, letting the delicious taste of him saturate my senses, and we begin moving in a rhythm all our own. He thrusts, delving deep as I ride, pleasure skittering over my skin like a breeze.

But then I feel it, the throbbing orgasm rising inside him, filling the long, thick column of his cock, threatening to erupt. He buries his head in the crook of my shoulder with a groan, his fingers digging into my flesh, his mouth latching onto my throat as I dig my fingernails into the bunched muscles of his wide back.

I’m ready to shatter as well, my breaths coming in pants as Alexus scrapes his teeth across my skin, as though he could devour me whole.

“Mine,” he groans again, taking me in long, hard thrusts. “Have you any idea what I feel for you?”

Tears prick my eyes as my release builds in time with his. The earth trembles and the wind off the sea rises over the garden wall as though summoned, rushing like a howling gale. It catches Alexus’s cries and the roar of my name and swiftly carries them away across Malgros.

We both fracture and careen through darkness like stars falling from the night sky. Whatever this power is—our magick and our bond together—it envelops us and fills us with the most genuine and pure pleasure, so genuine and pure that I know he feels it too. It’s all-consuming, stilling time itself, chasing away everything except what we feel for one another.

At some point, we return to ourselves, ever so slowly, and I find that we’re now lying in a naked heap on the grass, limbs tangled and shaking, lungs gasping, hands clutching.

Alexus takes my face in his hand, his eyes soft. “You are where I belong, Raina Bloodgood. Every bit of me. My body. My heart. My soul. I’m yours. Forever. Until the mountains crumble into the sea.”

Before he gathers our clothes and sweeps me up to carry me to the lighthouse for a long night together, he kisses me. A lingering kiss. One that has no care for time or place, no worry that someone might happen upon us. No worry for anything.

And I let him. I return that kiss with passion, trying with all that I am to show him that I feel the same.

Because if I’m not mistaken, I think Alexus Thibault just told me that he loves me.