31. The Promise

Avi departed with Yuki and Akane for the ingredients.

Ronin busied himself with video calls to Damian and Noah, discussing construction plans on the brewery and temporary distribution arrangements until the warehouse and loading lot were restored.

And, as ordered, Theon stuck near Naia—albeit moodily.

She hid in Ronin's bedroom to get away from him.

By the early morning hours, Avi and Yuki had returned and concocted the potion. More disgusting than the last one. The only issue was Naia couldn't hold it down. Each time the mixture touched her tongue, a reflex activated to cleanse everything in her stomach—which, after three vomiting episodes, was nothing.

"Let's try another way." Yuki grabbed an empty syringe from the black bag Akane referred to as her doctor bag.

Ronin was next to Naia through it all—pulling back her hair while she hugged the toilet, holding her hand when Yuki stuck her arm with the needle. Ronin and Naia were technically still at odds, but it came as second nature to pause their negative feelings and come together in hard moments.

Several days passed and Naia's symptoms eased.

Every day, Theon made the journey to Hollow City to check in on the Blood Heretics. Noah and Damian were running operations smoothly. The brewery was being rebuilt thanks to steady funds flowing in from the black market. Naia was pleased to hear Ronin would have a business to return to after the baby was born.

She didn't dwell on any other future details. Thinking too far into the future caused her to spiral and obsess over ways to break Cassian's curse.

With unwavering focus, she stared at the mark on her hand, pondering the drastic measure of cutting it off to find out if the curse mark would reappear upon its regeneration.

Like her first curse, she was without luck. In fact, each time she put effort into thinking about it, her mind went frustratingly blank, as if all her knowledge and thoughts had drained away through a secret hole she didn't know about.

Through the ages, no one had ever defeated Cassian at his own game—except for one.

Finnian.

He had withheld dead souls from Cassian for centuries.

When she lay in bed next to Ronin, she wanted to vent her frustrations and self-doubt and worries in word vomit. Expel some of it from gnawing away at her insides, but it was as if Ronin had a sense for when she was about to speak. And before she could, he'd rise from the bed with an excuse on his lips.

"I need to make a few calls."

"I'm going to check the spell around the perimeter."

She knew he had no calls to make, and that the spell held up fine.

"He goes inward when he's having a hard time," Yuki informed her one night, finishing Naia's checkup—monitoring vitals and blood pressure to ensure the potion was doing its job. "Just talk to him. Don't let the broody bastard run away from his problems."

Naia chewed on the inside of her cheek, considering. The last thing she wanted was to pry at him and push him away.

"Thank you for the advice," Naia told Yuki, unstrapping the blood pressure monitor from her bicep. "And for the potion."

"As much as I'd love to take credit, Aviel is more of an alchemist than me. He stayed up all night perfecting the recipe."

Naia smiled at her tone around Avi's name. "It seems like you've known him for a while."

"Since he started stalking my brother." Yuki smirked. "I used to visit Ronin a lot in the city, before I had Akane."

Naia would be lying if she didn't admit how curious she was about Yuki's life and Akane's father. For instance, what had happened to him? Was he dead? Did he abandon them? She hesitated to ask those types of personal questions, though.

"I figured you would have treated me with animosity," Naia confessed instead, shifting her weight on Ronin's bed. "Considering all the hardships your family has endured from the gods."

Yuki looked up, pausing her movements while stuffing the blood pressure monitor in her leather bag. "Did you personally have anything to do with my clan's massacre?"

Naia fidgeted with her fingernails in her lap. "I was not alive at the time."

Yuki cocked a brow. "Well then, why would I hate you for something you had no part in?"

Naia stared at her, not sure how to reply.

"Our mom and extremely grouchy aunt did everything to instill their hatred towards the gods into Ronin and me. Both of them chose not to practice bloodletting. It was their way of solidarity, sticking it to the gods, and their demise." She punctuated this by mockingly thrusting her fist in the air and rolling her eyes."It's why they died at such an early age."

"Was your father from the island?" Naia asked, siphoning out as many details of their family as she could.

"No, he was from the mainland. Moved here when he was a kid, his father started a fishing business. Which was why he was so adamant about Ronin staying on the island and working for him." A laugh spluttered out of her, nostalgia shining in her eyes. "Ronin hated it, but he loved our dad. Mom put high expectations on Ronin once she realized how gifted in magic he was. She always said he would be the one to restore our clan's power. It was a lot for Ronin and it put a strain on their relationship."

Naia's chest squeezed, understanding Ronin's upbringing a bit more.

Yuki zipped up her bag and let out a breath, the movement drooping her shoulders. "Look, I trust my brother and his judgment. If he says you're good, I'll go with it. Besides, Akane approves of you. That's all that matters to me."

Naia lifted her chin to meet Yuki's eyes, as fervent and intimidating as Ronin's. "I appreciate everything you are doing for me. Really. Thank you for your kindness."

"I'll come check on you in the morning."Yuki started towards the door. "Oh, I forgot!" She reached into her bag and pulled out bright, sparkly purple slippers. "Akane picked them out."

She set them on the floor at Naia's bedside.

"Welcome to the family." She winked and spun to leave the room.

Naia's heart swelled.

They matched Ronin's.

A toothy grin stretched across her face and tears stung her eyes.

Placing her feet into the slippers, she savored the feeling of being fully embraced by the Kahale family, wiggling her toes to revel in the plush comfort.

Naia waiteduntil she heard Yuki, Avi, and Akane depart to do their weekly foraging. When Theon transported away to check in with things in Hollow City, she made her way across the house, scuffing her new slippers across the hardwood planks. With him gone, she knew Ronin was nearby.

Paprika and garlic still lingered in the air from dinner.The house was old, and its walls regularly moaned. Half of the windows required a jiggle when opening them. The lilac paint was scuffed off in the corners near the baseboards, and the weathered, mismatched furniture looked as if it had been painted over numerous times. The amalgam of smells greeting her when she first walked through the door were her favorite touch. A musky jasmine belonging to Ronin. A sweet, candied fragrance when Akane approached, reminding Naia of the sea berry marmalade she loved. The residual, pungent whiff of the various herbs and tinctures stocking in the kitchen cabinets.

Naia found Ronin on the back porch in a wicker chair, staring down at his feet, deep in thought. His arm laid extended with a needle prodded into the crook of his elbow. A thin, clear tube attached to it drained blood into a glass jar.

The muscles in Naia's chest spasmed at the sight of the viscous liquid filling the bottom, a pool of melted rose petals.

Pieces of Ronin's hair slipped into his eyes as he lifted his chin to look at her. The soft glow of the porch light illuminated his strong, edged features. Her chest softened, watching him assess her for any signs of discomfort.

That morning, when they'd woken up, he'd kissed her on the forehead and invited her to help him make breakfast. She'd cut her finger open several times while chopping the tofu for the miso soup, and it pained him so much to witness her barely-there cut stitch itself back together that he retracted the job. Instead, he put her in charge of rinsing the rice.

After breakfast, he forcefully stared at her until she gave in and downed a few swigs of the horrible potion.He made her a decaf cup of coffee to wash it down with.

They hadn't spoken since.

She needed to talk things over with him and know they were on the same wavelength again.

"May I?" Naia gestured to the chair beside him.

He nodded, dropping his gaze back down to a singular point on the porch.

Naia's first instinct was to scoot away to avoid the metal essence of blood coating her nostrils. But doing so seemed insensitive and selfish. This was Ronin's reality, and soon, it would be her child's. If she wanted to be involved, she had to overcome her squeamishness.

If you will be a part of it.

She was overwhelmed with doubt as she rolled her lips together.

It was likely Cassian would raise their child in the Land of the Dead.

Dismissing the thought, Naia peered into the backyard.Dusk was settling on the island, draping dusty silhouettes over the trees and the cliff side peaks in the distance. The Kahale residence was tucked away in a cove, a short distance from the town, secluded and cushioned by trees around their property. It was a side of the island Naia had never explored during her time with Kaleo.

"I do not wish to skirt around the subject any longer," Naia said quietly, her hands joining in her lap to keep from fidgeting. "You are upset, and I can feel it."

"I'm not upset at you," he clarified.

"I know."

He raised his head to look at her.

"I imagine through your entire life all you've ever heard about deities is how they take," Naia said. "How they slaughtered your clan, how they fear what they do not understand, and how, if they were to meet you on the street, they would not hesitate to end your life because of the blood in your veins. It is why Yuki remains on this island with Akane, yes? Because the island has the touch of my father."

She glanced over at him.

He drew circles on the knee of his pant leg with his forefinger. "According to our ancestors, the gods refrain from visiting the island because they believe it brings those great misfortunes who step on its soil."

Naia chuckled softly, darkly amused by how the truth spun into a blatant rumor after all these years. "It was the place Lord Cassian cursed my parents and Solaris's mother, so I suppose they are not wrong."

"The High Goddess of Fate does not dictate which of us to keep safe," he explained. "Only one of each gender must always survive. Yuki never wanted to gamble with Akane's life on that."

"And now you have a son, it is your life up for gamble."

"Both of our lives are." Ronin's eyes fell onto her stomach. "Mine and his. Only one of us needs to be here, according to Fate's rules."

"He is protected. Nobody can harm what…" Naia licked her lips to give herself time to work the reality up her throat. "Nobody can harm what belongs to Lord Cassian."

Ronin grimaced.

Naia wanted to grab his hand, seek unity, and remind him of their connection, to express he wasn't alone in this either. However, it seemed wrong to reach out and touch himwhile he bled into a jar.

"You are upset with the gods for the situation we are in with our child," Naia said.

He ground his jaws. The finger drawing circles on his knee curled into his palm, balling his hand into a fist. Blood flowed more rapidly from the tube connected to his arm.

She needed him to understand something she'd only come to terms with within the passing days while she laid in his bed, trapped inside her head. She'd finally accepted that resisting her destiny would only result in walking the same path as Cassian and Mira.

"Ronin, the situation we are in is my doing." She placed her hand on her chest. "A sequence of events that led me to this place in my life. All due to my own decisions."

"A series of decisions that were forced on you to escape a shitty situation, Naia. That no person should ever have to make for freedom."

She blinked at him.

He continued to stare down at the porch. "I've always wanted a family of my own. It's something I've dreamed of since the day I fell off that fucking boat and crossed paths with you. I was only twelve, but you captivated me. You stuck with me, and there wasn't a day that passed that I didn't think of you. As I got older, I tried to erase you from my mind, but you always lingered.

"And then I was called back home for my father's funeral, pissed at the world—at the gods, at our family's fucking blood for taking my mom away from us, and how much her death broke my father's heart. I went out on his boat to feel a sense of closeness to the childhood I left behind, to the parents I'd lost, and I thought of you. If I were to jump into the sea, would you save me again? No matter where I went, the life I built for myself, I couldn't run away from this constant need to find you. Imagine my surprise when I was walking home later that night and spotted you on the shore." A humorless laugh bubbled out of him, and he ran his fingers through the loose strands framing his face.

He had been compelled to find her. Just as she had a strong sense to venture into the Mortal Land. The moment she met Kaleo, the craving to leave her footprints in their soil vanished. Just as her urgency to run had when she'd woken up in the Kahale house with Akane. Perhaps her longing to explore the Mortal Land was simply to find him, her other half.

"I am sorry." A lump swelled in her throat, tears burned the back of her nose. "I am sorry the gods are ruining this experience of having a family for you, but I promise, Ronin, it will hap?—"

"You're right. I am furious with the gods." He turned to look at her then, eyes blazing. "Always have been, but especially since I found you that day, and all the shit you showed me in your memories. I am holding on by a thread not to tear the world apart and ravage them all, one by one, for what they've done to you, and what they continue to do to you—to us. I would kill them all for it, even with my child's blood."

Her breath caught."Ronin, what did you just say?"

"The High God of Death and Curses is not taking our child," he said with a grim finality. "You are not leaving this island to protect me. And I am not dying anytime soon."

It was in his resolve—a ferocious passion and futile confidence crystallizing in the hollow of his eyes as they pierced right through her. A formidable force, daring anyone to challenge him. He reminded her of Finnian in that way, leaving her in awe and terrified of the consequences.

As she struggled to think of a way to break the curse, he had been doing the same. Except, unlike her, he'd figured out a solution.

"You are going to use our child's blood to kill him when he comes to collect." Naia straightened up in her chair, her pulse thundering. "He is a High God, Ronin. We are no match against him. I will break the curse. Let me find a way. Please?"

In the end, his plan would only get him killed. Cassian would not have mercy on a mortal who stood against him, much less defy the rules of his curse.

Ronin fished a small glass vial from his pocket and popped off the lid.He downed the contents of the vial in one swig and then ripped the needle out of his arm and stood up.

Naia lunged for the jar filled with his blood before he could grab it.

"What are you doing?" he grumbled, glaring down at her. "Give me the jar, Naia."

She hugged the glass of blood to her chest like a defiant child. "We do this together," she reminded him. "You cannot make plans without me."

He leaned over her and propped himself up on the arms of her chair. "Do you have any ideas on how to break this curse?"The scent of spearmint and cloves on his breath from the potion wafted across her face.

His tone was genuine, not at all meant to be patronizing, but Naia couldn't help interpreting it that way.

Through gritted teeth, she said, "I will find a way."

"I have all the faith in the world in you, babe." His voice softened, and his fingers came up to brush her cheek. "But come nine months, if we cannot figure out a way to break it, we are doing things my way."

We, at least, meant he would help her. Together.

You will not do this alone, he had told her a few days ago.

As an act of surrender, Naia placed the jar back down on the porch by her foot.The intensity of her anger from his stubbornness still buzzed underneath her skin, and yet she yearned to kiss him.

His vow was a declaration of his adoration—for her, for their child. A promise to love and stand beside her, regardless of the consequences he would face. It was an attempt to hold on to their blissful, distant image of peace after lifetimes of their souls searching for each other. Naia held equal parts cynicism and hope in her belief that life could be so kind.

"Okay," she agreed.

He moved in and brushed his lips against hers, unfurling a heat in her core.

How fascinating it was to be furious and in love with someone at the same time.

She craved to bicker with him, expunge some of her hostility that had collected the past few days since he'd shut her out, but his touch ignited a fire beneath her skin, one she wanted to burn in with him.

"Do you know what it did to me?" His palm smoothed over her cheek and his fingers hooked beneath her jaw. "To watch you marry him."

Her hands slid up his arms and into his hair, gathering strands between her fingers."I was looking at you the entire time."

Ronin's pupils flared into black holes, swallowing the rich warmth of his irises.

He reached inside his pocket and lightly took one of her hands into his, slipping a band around her ring finger. "I promise you, when this is all over, we are going home with our son, and I am going to marry you in front of the whole goddamn city."

Her first instinct was to protect herself and avoid envisioning such a beautiful future, but she shoved the reflex away. For now, she would grant herself that dream to hold on to.

The cool metal of the band around her finger was welcomed. In its center shone a scarlet jewel—the same as her bracelet. "Where did you get this?"

"It's your bracelet," he said. "Avi made it into a ring."

Naia cupped his cheeks and kissed him deeply. A tethering of souls where she couldn't tell where hers began and his ended.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, wanting more of him.

This was theirs.

He gripped her waist and hauled her up. Clumsily, they made their way into the house and down the hallway into his room. The backs of her legs hit the bed frame, and they toppled down on the mattress with him on top of her.

Ronin's tongue entwined with hers. His fingertips marked the backs of her thighs. She was not in the mood for slow and meandering. It had been several days since they'd come together.

Her impatient hands moved down between them to unzip his pants. She cupped around all of him, quickly processing his size and hardness. His body tensed to her touch.

A thrill shot through her.Gods, she loved the effect she had on him.

She stroked.

Ronin broke apart their kiss, mending his forehead to hers. He sucked a breath in through his teeth. She continued running her grip up and down.

"Don't shut me out again," she whispered in his ear.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he rasped. Her hand moved faster. "It's just—" He groaned. "Fuck, Naia, you don't know what you do to me."

"It's in your nature to do things alone," she finished for him.

He jerked away from her grasp and tore the straps of her dress down her shoulders—a dress given to her by Yuki, barely long enough to cover her knees—scattering kisses down her neck. She arched her spine in response, chasing the pleasure winding at the bottom of her belly and furling between her legs.

"Just like it is yours." He trailed kisses between her breasts. "Because there was no one for you to depend on."

His name left her lips through a whimper. She lifted her hips to meet the hardness of him, cursing the layers between them. As if he could read her mind, Ronin reached underneath her dress and tugged her underwear down her legs.

"Promise me, Naia." His voice gruff, demanding, as he teased her nipple with his tongue. "You won't leave or do anything reckless."

Her heart stuttered.

Ronin kissed up the base of her throat and paused beneath her chin, his breath washing over the most sensitive areas of her neck.

"Promise me." He bunched the hem of her dress around her hips and coaxed her with the tip of his length. "You cannot make plans without me."

In the end, whatever she chose to do, Ronin would be alive, and her child would be free.

"I won't." She bore deeply into his eyes. They were mesmerizing, endless as the starlight watering hole she used to swim in, with all his past lives carved into them. "I love you, Ronin."

He gently cupped her cheek, kissing the tip of her nose. "I am going to show you what it's supposed to be like. All of it."

Love. Happiness. Marriage. Family.

Tears nipped at the corner of her eyes as she smiled. "I can't wait."

He kissed away the tears sneaking down her cheeks and sealed his promise with a slow push inside of her.

She didn't tell him he had already shown her. He'd given her more love and light in mere weeks than she'd ever had the privilege of experiencing in her centuries.

Now, she understood the passion and pain of what it felt like to love another, willing to do anything in the world if it meant keeping them safe.

Naia knew then what needed to be done and considered her promise already broken.