𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 | 𝟏𝟖+

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 | 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄

ততততত

𝐓 𝐎 𝐁 𝐈 𝐍

Imogen's betrothal is to be announced this evening, and I'd be damned if I missed it.

The moment the sun set over the Great Blue ocean, I snuck into Imogen's empty bedroom. I snaked through the secret castle corridors until I was hidden within the walls of the throne room. Through a crack in the stone mortar, I can see the entire ceremony—and Imogen has no idea.

I never told her that I would watch from afar, but I made the decision the moment she revealed that cut on her thigh that will fade into a beautiful scar. Every kiss upon that blemish became a silent promise to her—a promise that Leighton will never dim her moonlight again. So here I am. Protecting my moonlight in the clandestine passages that weave through her castle.

Imogen herself appears like sapphire in her royal navy dress. The thick silk falls behind her in a train, a river of fabric that, for some fucking reason, I want to bathe in. Her golden hair is braided around her head in a crown, decorated with white baby's breath buds. She's illuminating, an almost blinding celestial glow that has Lagulon bowing at her feet.

There's no use lying to myself. I want her. In every way, shape, and form.

If she were some girl I met at the Lagulon shipyards, I'd have stolen her long ago. I'd have brought her back to the homestead by the lake. Everything between us ignites and burns in a squall of heart-pounding heat, and yet, she's the princess. That fucking title changes it all.

If she weren't the princess, I'd be on my knees for her with every passing hour.

I'd beg for her hand in marriage, and she'd shoot me with her goddamn arrow.

I'd give up this whole charade of thieving and just live.

I'd marry her.

Grow with her.

Make babies with her.

Love her in daylight.

Love her at nightfall.

I stagger back from gazing at her, pressing my back against the cool stone. What the fuck is going on with me?

This was never supposed to be about Imogen. I have to think about Aspen.

Aspen. The girl who is chained to the hands of Leighton.

I've wasted weeks with Imogen, telling myself that another night wouldn't send me over the edge, and now my soft heart refuses to let go.

I'm in love with Imogen.

"For fuck's sakes, I love her," I mutter under my breath, taking another glimpse of my moonbeam through the cracked stone. Leighton stands next to her now as her father's voice carries out the wretched truth—she will marry Leighton.

She can't marry Leighton.

My soft heart can't bear to watch her be handed away to a man that will obliterate everything that I adore.

But what the hell can I even do? I can't fix this. I can't swoop in and steal her forever. Imogen and I exist in two different realms, and yet somehow they intersect. When the moon hangs over us, our timelines cross and entwine, and now we're deep into this goddamned mess of kisses and touches and scars...

It's all because of Leighton. All of this. He's the reason I had to run from Adorid and leave Aspen behind. He's the reason Imogen stands before her people, willingly giving herself away to him. He's the reason my father perished. He gave me my scars.