Exhaustion claims him, racks through him, and he has to close his eyes against it, has to pull her in closer, clinging to her, holding her against his chest. Her scent is everywhere and yet nowhere, and he hunts it down, lips finding the soft, secret curves of her. The ocean continues to roll in steadily, washing up against their chests and their hips—wrapping around them, whispering sweet things.
They are locked in this embrace, in this moment together, and he cherishes it, leans into it.
Their bodies rock against the gentle pressure of the tide, and he remains silent, all too aware of the raw, bruised pieces of him that lay exposed. But he doesn’t feel anything but relief, a weight lifted, a burden shared with the steely-eyed, steel-spined woman who lies nestled against him. For a moment, he reaches down, inky lips pressing against the tender flesh beneath her ear, but no words come—just silence.
It was enough secrets for one night. It was enough.
Finally, he draws back, pulling her with him as he makes his way toward the shore, to where the land lays beyond. The land that now claims them both, that has wrapped around them with its barbed-wire promises. When the water has dripped from them, leaving them heavy and waterlogged, and when the sand becomes thick beneath their hooves, he reaches over and presses his mouth against her jaw.
“Let’s go home,” he murmurs, because he would stay with her. He would. Because they had two beautiful children, because they had a family they have adopted and promised to protect. Because she has seen the worst of him and not turned her cheek; because despite the fears that clog his throat, despite the words that he is terrified to say again, he has come to love her. “I want to dream against you tonight.”
out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll
![[Image: gqYjsHr.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/KjqNDKxc/gqYjsHr.png)