Chapter 1567

A flicker of something passed through her - doubt, or maybe awe - and then she stepped closer. She pressed her lips to his in a kiss that wasn't tentative but testing, like she needed to know that he was real, that this wasn't just another dream conjured by the island. When he kissed her back, when their mouths parted and met again with deepening hunger, she sighed and slid the sword into the earth beside them.

The silver light didn't fade - it grew brighter, responding to every breath, every caress.

Emma pushed him down gently into the moss, and climbed over him, her body taut and gleaming in the reflected light. Her clothes had become as symbolic as breath, and she shed them like shadows, revealing skin that drank in the moonlight.

"I want to feel everything," she said.

He did too.