“Stay,” he murmurs. “Or go. Your choice.”
The city hums below us. The wind sends dark tendrils of my hair across my eyes as my gaze locks with his.
I think about the girl who came up here that night, shaking and shattered, certain that she was forever damaged. Certain that the darkness she carried hidden inside would drive away every person who ever got close enough to see it. The girl who screamed into the void because there was no one to screamat.
Except that girl had no idea someone was already listening.
Someone was already seeing her in a way that nobody else did.
And he’s never stopped listening, and never stopped seeing me for all that I am.
Achilles saw me at the lowest, worst point of my life, andfell in love with me.
“You’re wrong about never having given me a choice,” I say, slowly shaking my head. “You did, that first night at the party. You gave me a way out?—”
“I gave you a one-way exit?—”
“No, you made me commit to facing my fears and staring down my insecurities,” I murmur.
Achilles’ jaw clenches when I take a step toward him, erasing the distance he just put between us.
“You did give me a way out,” I breathe. “But you also gave me every reason not to use it. How could I ever be mad at you for that?”
I stop right in front of him and look up into his dark devil eyes.
“I choose you."
My voice doesn't waver.
"I chooseus."
I step back into his warmth, my hands fisting the front of his shirt. "Whatever your methods, I fell in love with you.”
His face breaks as his mask completely falls away. But there’s no monster underneath it. No villain, or devil, or—okay, there’s a little bit of devil. But that’s one of the reasons I love him.
The darkness under the gold.
The grime beneath the glitter.
What I see when that mask slips away doesn't scare me.
Because it’shim.
"I love you," I say again, because it feels worth repeating until it fills every corner of the space between us.
“And I love you, so fucking much,” he groans as his hands cup my face.
Then his mouth is on mine, kissing me the way he does everything.
Like the outcome was never in question.
Like hisrightto me is so certain that the universe itself has to accept it as fact.
Like he already knows how it ends.
And this time, I do too.
The answer is…never.