as he approaches me to wipe the tears from my cheeks. “I need you to be safe and happy.”
“Then why do you want to send me back to my world where I won’t be safe and I won’t be happy without you?”
“You could die here. Fairies could attack our grotto if they find it. I can’t bear to see my mate killed.”
“So you think it’s okay to let me watch you die? You don’t get to make that decision for me. You don’t get to decide what’s good for me just because you think you’re saving me. You already saved me, Eliph. You gave me back everything I thought I had lost and healed the pain that I’ve been carrying around. If you say that you’re going to rejoin the Heart of Wells and force me to go back there… it’s just not happening,” I snarl as I wrap my arms tightly around him. “Because you are not going anywhere without me.”
“Steph!” he cries out in alarm.
I look down and see what he does. At the full contact of our bodies, and maybe my declaration, we’re both dissolving together, the tiny beads of water dancing around what remains of our bodies. I look my mate in the eye and smile tearfully.
“There is no me without you anymore. We’re together. Magic bond, ahandral mates. So you decide what it’s going to be, ahandral,” I whisper harshly. “Do we take a chance on life and love, or do we dance together forever in the depths of the Heart of Wells?”
He looks at me, the wonder his eyes so brilliant that they draw me in.
“Are you sure of this, my heart-spark?”
“I’ve never been more certain than anything in my life.”
“And what of your family?”
“You are my family too… and it’s not like we’re permanently tied to the grotto, right? I can go back and see them on holidays and every now and then just to check up on how everyone is doing.”
“It’s not easy to watch those you love grow old, ahandral,” he reminds me sadly.
“No. But love is worth the price.”
“I love you,” he whispers, his face drawing closer.
And those three little words heal up the last remaining wound in my heart as I lean in close and place my lips against his.
“I love you too,” I whisper against his mouth and surrender to his kiss.
A roar of water rushes and in the distance, I can hear the crack of words being spoken as the droplets around us spin and merge into each other. They go faster, creating a vortex of light that whips around us. It snaps through us, drawing the bond together, tying us together. A powerful light fills behind my eyes, and a painful pressure encompasses my head. I can feel the edge of darkness descending as the stars of our magic merge together.
Don’t let me go, I cry out into the void.
Never.
Epilogue
Steph
When we surface, we find a goblin waiting for us, a satisfied smile on his face. He holds his red felt hat in his hands and gives me a small bow.
“I just knew you two would see it through,” he declares. “And nice horn, kid,” he adds with a playful wink as he gestures at the delicate pearly spiral sprouting from my brow.
“Not like anything else changed,” I mutter. “I didn’t really want fur, but the tail might have been fun. I guess I just get to be a weird-looking human with a horn.”
“A beautiful ahandral human with a horn,” my mate corrects as he pecks me lightly on the cheek. “And one who will have a most beautiful fetch form.”
I roll my eyes but smile with undisguised pleasure.
“So what’s next for you?” I ask Grimsal curiously. “Planning on tagging along with us to our grotto? Drive Eliph nuts the entire time since he can’t escape you?”
The goblin chuckles and shakes his head. “I’m afraid not. You’re heading off to your next adventure, and as for that little gift, the mind talk burned out in that last rush we had that carried us to the well. With two unicorns, I would be a rather grumpy third wheel if I can’t communicate. No, I’m thinking of going back to Fahal and stirring up trouble somewhere. Maybe see if I can woo any of the ladies in the Midwest… or Vegas,” he says after a moment of thought.
“Good lord, be gentle with them,” I tease, earning a saucy wink from our friend.
“I make no promises,” he says with a