Chapter 8 The Moon Is A Witness

• The hill above the village shimmered silver beneath the moonlight. Grass whispered beneath our feet as Ravnir led me higher, past the last of the stone path, until all that remained between us and the sky was the hush of night and the quiet ache of unsaid things.
• “Did you bring me up here to stare at the stars?” I asked, fingers playing with the hem of my wrap.
• Ravnir didn’t look away from me. “I brought you here to stop pretending.”
• My breath caught.
• He moved closer—not in a rush, but with the slow, calculated certainty of a predator who already knows the outcome. I tilted my head, refusing to give him the upper hand, but the space between us was vanishing.
• “You’ve been circling me like I’m a prize stag,” I said.
• “You’re not prey,” he replied, voice deep and low. “You’re the damn moon. And I’m tired of pretending I don’t rise and fall because of you.”
• I opened my mouth for a retort—but no words came. He smirked, like he knew.
• Then he kissed me.
• It was not soft. It was reverent and consuming, like he had waited through lifetimes for permission. My hands fisted in his tunic, dragging him closer. His mouth moved against mine with unyielding heat, claiming, tasting, remembering.
• “You always smell like something I can’t forget,” he murmured, dragging his lips down my neck. “Mint crushed under sunlight. Riverstone warmed at noon. Wild flowers after rain. You make me forget every storm I’ve ever walked through.”
• I shuddered as his hands traced the curve of my waist.
• “You’re dramatic.”
• “You’re breathtaking.”
• I smirked, but it faltered when he undid the clasp of my wrap and let it fall. “I should insult you more often.”
• “Try,” he said, voice husky as he leaned in to kiss along my collarbone.
• Clothes disappeared with frustrating slowness, shed like offerings to the night. His body was fire against mine, and my mind went hazy with every touch. When his hand slid between my thighs, I gasped, hips arching without shame.
• “Tell me to stop,” he said again, voice strained.
• Instead, I pulled him closer, legs curling around him. “Stop wasting time.”
• And then he entered me with one deep, deliberate stroke. I broke, mouth open, breath caught somewhere between a moan and a prayer.
• “Finally,” he whispered, forehead resting against mine. “One.”
• We moved together, lost in the rhythm of something older than memory, each thrust a declaration, every kiss a promise. The fireflies danced around us like blessings from the stars, and every breath felt borrowed from something sacred. He worshiped me; every thrust he made, he whispered my name. Every pull, he breathed like a sigh, like a regret.
• His thrust was slow at first, sensuous. But it became deeper and quicker, turning into a storm. His grip gets stronger. I am engrossed in the feeling, lost to him, in myself, with me.
• When the peak tore through me, I screamed, gripping him like a lifeline as everything shattered around us in a blinding rush of heat and gold. He slammed into me harder, chasing his own edge until he finally spilled with a ragged animal growl.
• We lay tangled beneath the stars, panting, sweat-slicked, and bare. Then—
• A glow flared on my left hip.
• I blinked down to see gold and green vines spiraling into bloom—four tendrils merging into a clematis flower wrapped around a crescent moon.
• Ravnir sat up slightly, eyes wide. A matching tattoo pulsed just above his heart.
• System Notification: Primary Bond Completed.
• Soul Synchronization: Successful.
• Matched Soulmark: Clematis Moonburst.
• Bond Benefits Unlocked:
• – Shared Sensory Awareness (passive)
• – Emotional Resonance (linked)
• – Pocket Storage Access Granted to Bonded
• Initiating Memory Glimpse…
• The night blinked away.
• We stood beneath a sacred tree, wrapped in twilight and flower-scented wind. My fingers were twined with his—no, hers. I watched through her eyes as she leaned into him with quiet laughter.
• "My love, you forgot to eat again," she teased, brushing leaves from his shoulder.
• "I was watching you," he replied. "You glow like the moon tonight."
• "You always say that."
• "Because you always do."
• "You’re hopeless," she said with a fond sigh, tugging him down into the grass beside her.
• "Hopelessly yours."
• They kissed under the soft rustle of stars. It wasn’t a kiss of hunger. It was a kiss of home.
• Then the vision faded—but the ache in my chest didn’t.
• I blinked back into the present. Ravnir was watching me, chest still heaving, but now his expression had shifted—something tender, something shattered open.
• “You saw it,” I said softly.
• He nodded. “What was that?” he whispered. Then, “You called me, my love.”
• “And you called me—”
• “My moon,” he said, brushing his fingers along my new tattoo. “Because that’s what you are. The only light that ever pulled me from the dark.”
• I swallowed, then reached to trace the bond mark on his chest. “You’re so sappy.”
• “Tell anyone and I’ll deny it,” he said, though he was already smiling.
• “Too late. I’m keeping this one forever.”
• “You better,” he said, pulling me back into his arms. “You’re mine now. Entirely.”
• “And you're mine,” I whispered against his throat.
• There, under the sky and stars, we became not just lovers, but something timeless. Tangled in each other, flesh and soul, hearts inked with truths we’d once forgotten—but never stopped feeling.
• And far above, the moon watched.