Outside the cathedral, the storm clung to them like a shadow. Boots splashed in shallow puddles across the courtyard, rain sliding in rivulets down coats and hair. Elena's violet eyes caught the lightning, glinting like glass struck through with indigo sparks. Jaime's ocean-blue gaze reflected her, glowing in rhythm with the storm they carried between them.
For a while, neither spoke. The rain and wind filled the silence, a shield around them, an unspoken declaration: we are not to be moved.
Finally, Elena's voice cut through the storm, sharp with anger.
"Do they think this is a game? That we are their playthings?"
Jaime's hand found hers, grounding her. Fingers interlaced, their grip softened the violence that had risen inside them both.
"They don't understand," he said, voice steady, though tight beneath the calm. "They've never seen gods walk in flesh and blood."
Her jaw trembled. She turned toward him, lips quirking with a faint smile even as her eyes stayed storm-dark.
"I can't let them think they own us. Not ever. Not again."
He cupped her cheek, thumb brushing her damp skin. "Then let them see what we are. But here- " he bent closer, pressing his forehead to hers, "let it be only us."
Her breath shuddered out, softening against him. Leaning into his chest, she let the warmth of his body still the tempest within. Violet sparks threaded into his indigo aura, weaving a single current between them, neither hers nor his, but theirs.
When they reached the cottage, Elena slammed the door shut as if to bar the world away. Her boots struck the floor, wet hair clinging to her shoulders. Jaime followed, shaking out his braids, the storm's weight falling from him.
"How could they make us," she demanded, chest rising and falling, "stand before them like prey? To be weighed and judged as if our lives are theirs to bargain?"
Jaime crossed to her, voice quiet but unwavering. "But we are not prey. We are the storm they cannot command."
Her fury cracked, replaced by exhaustion, by longing. The sparks in her eyes dimmed to a softer glow. She reached up, brushing rain-slick strands from his brow. Her lips grazed his in a tentative kiss, more plea than passion. He answered without hesitation, one hand firm at her waist, the other cradling her face. Their bond thrummed, aching with relief at being whole again.
"Elena," he whispered, breath ragged against her lips, "after today… I can't hold this back. I need you."
Her answer came in a tremor, in teeth grazing his lower lip. "I need you too."
The kiss deepened, slow and reverent, before urgency overtook them both. Their bodies pressed close, magic flickering like firelight around them, violet and indigo sparking across bare skin. Each touch spoke more than words- the confession of survival, of love, of belonging only to each other.
He traced his lips down her neck, across the scars on her belly, adoring rather than hungry. She gasped, threading her fingers through his braids, not just surrendering but choosing him again and again in each breath.
When he returned to her mouth, the kiss was fierce, and when they fell together, it was not in desperation but in defiance. Their union was thunderous, yes- but also tender, grounding, anchoring them against the chaos outside. Their magic surged not to destroy, but to bind, pulsing through the room in waves of violet and indigo light.
When at last the storm inside them stilled, they collapsed together, skin slick, foreheads pressed close. Elena's whisper trembled with relief.
"Gods… I don't know how we survived today."
"Because we have each other," Jaime murmured, brushing tears from her cheeks with infinite care. "Not the council, not the elders. Just us. That's enough."
She breathed against his skin, violet eyes softening to indigo flame.
"I'm glad it's you," she whispered.
"And I," Jaime said, his ocean-blue gaze glowing faintly in the lantern light, "would never be anywhere else."
Outside, the storm raged on, but inside, there was only their quiet, unbroken vow.
Tomorrow they would show them the price of bargaining with the storm and sea.
And somewhere out there, growling eyes watched.