Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(87)

“She’s resting. Dominic and Gabriel are keeping watch.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about them watching over her like she was some sort of criminal.

“That’s not how I meant it,” he whispered into my hair and then kissed my head. “They’re just making sure she’s safe.”

I nodded, realizing it was probably a little bit of both.

I closed my eyes and let the hum of his body soothe me as the wind howled vociferously outside the window, smacking the rain against the glass like falling rocks.

“Did you mean what you said earlier?” he asked after a few beats of silence.

“Which part?” I had to ask because, well, with my mouth, I could never be sure.

He hesitated to answer. “When your mom said you loved me.”

Smiling, I looked up and met his gemstone eyes. “Of course I meant it. You know how I feel about you.”

“I guess so, but…” He didn’t finish.

“But what?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged like he wasn’t sure where he was going with it, even though I knew that he was. “It’d be nice to hear you say it sometimes.” He met my gaze again—his eyes vulnerable. Pained.

“That I love you?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve said it before.” I was sure that I had…hadn’t I?

“Nah. I’d remember you saying that.” His dimples pressed in again, though there was no accompanying smile.

I wasn’t sure why I’d never said it to him when I knew I’d felt this way about him since forever. Maybe it was another one of those words I was afraid of…like home and safe and happily-ever-after. Maybe I was scared that if I said it out loud, the Angels of Destruction would hear my words and take him from me to spite me.

“No one in this Realm or beyond could ever take me from you,” he promised, kissing the tip of my nose.

And in that moment, I believed him. I cupped his cheeks and kissed him full on the mouth, sinking into him like two halves of a whole. “I love you, Trace Macarthur. I’ve only ever loved you.”

His beautiful heart-shaped lips pulled into a grin, popping off both of his dimples at once. “Then marry me, Jemma.”

“What?” I choked out a stunned laugh.

“I’m serious,” he pulled back and sat up on the bed, dragging me right up with him. “Marry me.”

“You’re crazy!”

“Yeah,” he said and licked his lips. “I’m crazy about you.”

“We’re still in high school!” I shrieked, unable to even out the piercing pitch to my voice or wipe the goofy smile off my face.

“I don’t care. Marry me anyways. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t care how young we are or how much time we have. I want you to be my wife.”

“I want that too, but—”

“No but’s. No excuses. Just me and you.” His jaw muscles popped as he grazed his thumb against my cheek. “What you said to your mother, about not having any other options. You were wrong.”

“What do you mean? I don’t—”

“I could take you away from here, Jemma. We could disappear together the way we’d always planned. We’d never have to come back here and no one would ever find us.”

I remembered the night he’d said that to me as though it were yesterday. We were at Caleb’s party, dancing together in the corner of a packed room that had felt empty. He asked me if I’d go away with him to a place where the sun never set and I told him that I’d go anywhere with him. And I still would.

“Then come with me. We could leave tomorrow after the wall goes up.”

“But the Dark Legion…the Council…” I shook my head hopelessly. “They’ll hunt me. They’ll hunt you. We’ll never be safe. We’ll never be able to stop running.”

“It won’t be like that.” His eyes were filled with certainty, with determination.

“And Dominic? The bloodbond…” My eyes welled up with despair. I wanted so bad to leave all of this behind and go away with him.

“I have an idea. I’ve been looking into it and I think it’ll work.”

“What idea? Since when?”

“Since Taylor.” His eyes remained unreadable and my heart fluttered with nerves. “Do you trust me, Jemma?”

“I trust you.”

“Tomorrow then.” He leaned in and kissed me again softly—tenderly, and I curled into the space between his arms where I have always belonged.

He lay us back down on the bed and played with my hair as I rested my head in the crux of his arm. My body hummed with love and hope as I imagined a life with Trace, just the two of us, away from this awful place. I wasn’t sure where he was taking us or what he had planned, but I trusted him with every cell in my body.

I turned on my side and faced the window, watching mindlessly as the rain pelted against the window. The moon was full and hanging low in the distance, it’s eerie crimson glow not far away. Tomorrow would be different—better—because tomorrow was going to be the first day of the rest of our lives.

I closed my eyes and fell asleep to the soft lulling of his heart.