I barely slept that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, my thoughts circled back to the same unbearable truth that I might never return.
Never see my parents again. Never hear my mother fuss over whether I had eaten enough or my father pretending not to worry whenever I worked a late shift. Never gossip with Pippa over a bottle of wine after another exhausting week at the hospital. Never walk the familiar streets with Julia on our way to work again, my coffee warming my hands as the city slowly came to life around me.
Even Dr. Madakwe's impossible standard suddenly seemed like something I longed for.
Though I complained a lot about the long hours, I had loved my work. There had always been comfort in easing another person's pain, in knowing that I had made someone's worst day just a little more bearable.
Helping Livia had reminded me of that, but it wasn't the same.
This wasn't my world.
Nor were these the duties expected of me if I truly became Marcus's wife. I knew enough about this era to understand what marriage to a man as powerful as Marcus meant for a woman. My safety, my future, my choices...they would all become my husband's concern as much as my own.
Marcus had once struggled to understand my world. Now it was my turn to learn his.
The irony of it all was almost cruel.
A pair of soft lips brushed my temple, drawing me from my thoughts.
I looked up to find Marcus, eyes still closed, one arm draped securely around my bare waist beneath the duvet.
I had thought he was asleep.
"Your worries have invaded my dreams, Elena," he murmured. "I can feel them, even with my eyes closed. Especially when you are here in my arms."
I released a slow breath and gently lifted his arm away from me. Reaching for the nearest tunic hanging from the bedpost, I slipped it over my head before swinging my legs over the side of the bed.
"I can't sleep," I admitted quietly. "No matter how hard I try, all I can think about is never seeing my family again. Never seeing Pippa..."
The words caught in my throat.
Death, at least, offered closure.
This did not.
This felt like being sealed inside a room with no doors, no windows, no way out. Only the slow, suffocating realization that I might spend the rest of my life learning to call it home.
Was this how Marcus had felt when he was trapped in my world?
The thought lingered only briefly before I felt him shift behind me.
Marcus pressed a lingering kiss to my bare shoulder, the warmth of his lips sending an involuntary shiver through me. Even after the few rounds of lovemaking, it was still not enough. As if no amount of closeness would ever truly be enough.
This man was truly, utterly insatiable.
"What would ease your troubled mind, my love?" he murmured against my skin.
His fingers slipped beneath the curtain of my hair, brushing it gently over one shoulder before tracing the line of my back. His hand slipped down the delicate strap, sending my dress slipping off my shoulder, unveiling the bare expanse of my back for him to explore.
He pressed another soft kiss there.
"What can I do," he whispered, "to help carry this burden with you?"
I turned to face him.
A single tear escaped before I could stop it, tracing a slow path down my cheek. "I don't know, Marcus," I confessed, brushing it away only for another to take its place. "I truly don't know what to do."
The hardness in his features melted instantly.
He cupped my face with both hands, his thumbs gently wiping away the tears as though they pained him more than they did me.
"You will," he said quietly with conviction. "You will find your answer."
His forehead rested against mine.
"And when you do, I will be beside you. Every step of the way."
His unwavering certainty made my chest tighten.
Unable to find the words, I closed the small distance between us and kissed him.
Softly at first, as a silent thank you. Then his breath caught, before he kissed me back with equal tenderness, his hands settling around my waist to gather me close. As if he feared letting go might somehow make me disappear.
With my top already slipped down, I kissed him deeply, my fingers pulling the dress away from my legs as I climbed onto his lap. He was ready for me, already aching, as I wrapped my hand around him, stroking slowly, savoring every reaction. His lips parted in a soft moan, eyes dark with desire, as if I were his only reason to breathe.
"My love," he whispered, voice thick with devotion. "My goddess, Elena Corvus, I belong to you in this life and every life after."
I traced my fingers along his jaw, touching his cheek tenderly. "If I am truly here with you, Marcus Valerius Corvus, then you can never leave. I would never survive without you."
His breath hitched, a fierce promise in his voice. "I never will."
Then his hand closed around my neck, pulling me down, sealing us with a fierce, hungry kiss when I finally sank into him.
He groaned against my lips, our passion deepening and I moved with him, every touch burning with our raw, unspoken love.
As I moved over him, my hand thrown back in pleasure, his hands gripped my hips firmly, yet tender, grounding me. One hand drifted slowly up my chest, fingers tracing circles around my nipples before his lips pressed softly against the skin over my heart.
"I promise you, Elena," he whispered, his voice low and steady, a fire burning in its depths. "I will give you the world. You will want for nothing. As long as I breathe, I am yours to command."
Each word sent shivers rippling through me, stoking the blaze between us. His touch, his voice, his very presence, he was all I ever needed.
Clinging to his shoulders, I rode him harder, faster. "I hate how easily you spill poetry from those lips," I confessed hoarsely, "and how well you know my body."His tongue flicked over my other nipple as I pressed my nose to his hair, breathing in his scent. "I hate how effortlessly you erase my sadness...even if it's only for a little while."
Marcus pulled me closer, one hand settling possessively on my hips to keep my still. He paused, breath warm against my skin, eyes locking with mine in a gaze so fierce it stole my breath away.
"Then marry me," he said quietly, his voice raw with longing. "For real this time."
My breath caught, as the world seemed to fall silent around us.
There was only Marcus, the man who had stumbled across centuries and found me. Against every impossible odd, he had loved me without asking me to become someone else. He led me out of the darkness I had carried for so long and reminded me that I was worthy of being loved.
My eyes stung as emotion swelled in my chest.
"Yes," I whispered.
He kissed me fiercely then, hands gripping my hips as he flipped me onto my back.
A startled yelp escaped me, as I clung onto his shoulders when he thrust harder, deeper. My thighs wrapped tightly around his hips, my eyes locked on the raw hunger burning in his expression as he fucked me raw. The bedpost creaking and shifting with each powerful stroke, in and out, merging us closer.
"This seals it," he said, breath ragged, matching the rhythm of his movements. "You are mine now. Fucking forever, Elena."
"Yours, Marcus," I breathed, surrendering to the tide of our shared vow and passion.
As the world around us fell away, leaving only us.
Bound by a fierce, unbreakable promise.