Goldfinch (The Plated Prisoner, #6)

by Raven Kennedy

Her beautiful eyes fill, and her gilded lips part. “Slade.” Our auras might’ve shattered the sky, but her saying my name shatters me. And it seems to shatter her too. I can see every line that cracks through her eyes, every thought that breaks across her face. “I remember…” she whispers upon a trembled breath. “Great Divine…I remember.” Her expression looks haunted yet awed, a thousand words caught there, and I want to release every single one. My eyes burn, my chest feeling ready to explode, but I reach forward and clasp her beautiful face. Drag my thumb over her soft cheek to catch the first tear that falls. “You found me,” she whispers, lip trembling. The relief and heartbreaking joy is so intense I have to shove it aside before I can answer. “I’ll always find you, Goldfinch.” Always. A devastating smile breaks out across her face, watery eyes spilling over and flooding right into me. Then she leaps into my arms and I catch her. I hold her so tightly against me in a way that threatens the Fates if they ever fucking dare to separate us again. “Slade…Slade…Slade…” She says it over and over again. Just my name. Repeated a thousand different times, in a thousand different ways. I press my face into her hair, breathing her in, squeezing my wet eyes against the golden strands. Her legs are wrapped around my waist, arms holding me tight, and I clasp her to me so there’s no space between us. Never again. “Slade…” “I’m here, Auren.” I’m finally here. Right where I belong. With her.