Through His Eyes

Epilogue

"You said something about magic before you...y'know. And well, I'd like to take it as a compliment to my particular set of skills, but it's not the first time you've said that during... so I was wondering..." One of his hands left her body and she could just about see it rubbing at the back of his ear—his nervous tell.

A smile stretched across her lips at his words, though it was concealed from his eyes. A moment later, she schooled her features into one of casualness and drawled, "Fishing for a compliment there?"

"No—"

Her amusement was evident in her voice this time as she said, "Trying to ask me if I'm secretly a member of an ancient tribe of witches?"

"Jesus, no." He shook his head. "You can be so difficult sometimes. Forget I asked."

She let out an airy laugh, then took his hand resting on her stomach in her own and placed a kiss inside his palm.

She thought about telling him then, like she did every single day. Countless times, the words had found their way to the tip of her tongue, just to be swallowed back down because she feared it might be too soon. Maybe it was too soon, but on whose standards? It wasn't like there was a timetable to falling in love, she'd know. She'd fallen for Caleb so hard and so fast, it was like diving off a cliff—she was at the bottom before she'd fully realized she was even falling. The same certainly applied to Caleb. Theirs had never been a slow burning candle; it was an all-consuming fire—barely a flicker one moment, roaring the next. Besides, three years in, their relationship felt as solid as it could be, and in that moment, it felt right to finally tell him.

So she took a deep breath and turned around to face him—but not before she reached for the sheets and cocooned herself in them. She was comfortable with being naked in front of him, but this was barely a conversation to be had in the nude.

"So, I'm going to tell you something, but you need to promise you won't freak out."

"The last time you said that, you'd crashed your car into a tree, so you know I can't make any promises."

"Babe," she whined, "I'm serious."

"So am I." When she shot him an unimpressed look, he relented—as he always did—and said, "Fine, I won't freak out. Will you please tell me?"

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before the words started to tumble out of her lips in a way that bordered on incoherent. "So there's this thing about my family—When I was little my parents told me these stories...about how they met. At least, at the time I thought they were just stories but they were real, and I know it's quite hard to believe but I hope you'll just hear me out, and..."

"Rhea," Caleb said, placing one hand on each of her shoulders and giving her a steady look, "Breathe."

She looked back at him and took a second to do as he said, breathing in and out, in and out.

When he was satisfied with the result, he gave her shoulders a light squeeze and said, "Okay, let's start again. There were stories..."

"Yes, stories... um, like I said, they're about how my parents met. More specifically, it's about what happened before they met. You see, my mother started to get these...um, visions, before she met my father. They were random bits of snippets through his eyes, and um, exactly a week later, she met him." She paused briefly to gauge his reaction but didn't see any hint of bewilderment on his face as she'd expected—he seemed calm, if not a bit intrigued. So she took another deep breath and continued, "This is, like, a family thing for us. And I had them too...before I met you."

"What exactly do they mean?" he asked, his voice sounding steady and calm.

"It means that... Well, my parents say it means the person you see is supposed to be your soulmate. And I know it sounds too much like some made-up fairytale, but it's been happening for generations, and it has actually happened to me, so..."

"I see," he said, holding her gaze with an earnest look in his eyes.

"I see?" she echoed, feeling bewildered. "That's all? You're not going to freak out?"

A slow smile took over his features at her words. "Rhea..." he said, "I admit what you're telling me is a bit unusual, but I believe you. Besides, I didn't need you to tell me you and I are meant to be. Trust me, I feel it every day,"—he took her hand and placed it on his chest, right above his heart—"right here. I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You're telling me I have magical family heritage backing me up? All the better."

She was rendered speechless by his words, so she did the only thing she could think of—she threw herself at him, wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips in a searing kiss.

He was caught off guard, so he slumped against the headboard some more under her weight, but he hardly seemed to complain. His arms banded across her waist, just to start to wander only moments later. One of his hands stroked the length of her spine up and down as the other moved to tangle in her now waist-long hair, as he gave his best in response to her kiss.

This was among Rhea's favorite types of kisses. The kind that didn't necessarily lead to anything, but the kind that just was. Their lips moved in perfectly practiced synch as they poured all the love they felt for each other into the kiss.

Their movements were slow and languid, almost lazy, and after a few minutes they came to a complete halt with their lips just resting against each other's—no movement, no kiss; just flesh against flesh. A moment later, she broke the contact to rest her forehead against his, and sighed contently, her breath falling against his lips.

"I love you so much," she whispered. "Did you know that?"

"I'm going to marry you one day," he replied. His voice was so low that she felt the words across her skin rather than heard them. "Did you know that?"

She let out a soft chuckle.

"Trust me," she said. "I've known for a while."

***

A/N: So, I guess this is it. Once again, thanks for the amazing experience, my loves.

I'll put this out there now: there will not be a sequel, so please don't hound me for one, okay? I am, however, working on a spinoff about Xander, but I don't know when that will be posted.

Lastly, would you guys be interested in a one shot competition? I'll host one if around 20 people respond with "yes" to this line.

I love you all.

May we meet again,

-Safiye.