

struck from a great height
After being trapped in darkness, possession, and pain, Eliot Waugh has been found. Rescued from the depths of Castle Blackspire, he returns to the real world gasping for air—and for Quentin. The man who heard him when no one else could. The man who remembered him when he couldn't remember himself. Now, in the aftermath of trauma and separation, Eliot needs to feel—really feel—alive again. And there's only one person who can make that happen. One person who knows exactly how to touch him, how to love him, how to put him back together piece by piece. In a penthouse protected by magic and guarded by Margo, Eliot and Quentin reconnect in the most intimate ways possible—slowly, fiercely, completely. This is their story of healing through touch, redemption through love, and finding each other again after being torn apart by darkness.The shower is as hot as I can stand it, steam fogging the glass walls, but I'm still shivering. Not from cold—from the overwhelming sensation of being touched again. After so long trapped, feeling nothing but the Monster's cold presence, Quentin's hands on me are almost too much to bear.
He's standing behind me, not even trying to be sexual, just helping me wash the blood from my hair. His white shirt is soaked through, clinging to his back, but he doesn't seem to care. His fingers massaging my scalp send tremors down my spine—pleasure so acute it borders on pain.
"I missed you," he says quietly, his breath warm against the back of my neck. "So much."
I turn in his arms, water streaming down both our faces, and kiss him. It's messy, desperate, not at all elegant, but he responds immediately, opening his mouth under mine as though he's been starving for this. When we finally pull apart, his eyes are dark with something I haven't seen in far too long—hunger, yes, but something deeper too. Recognition.
"I'm here," I whisper, needing him to understand. "I'm really here."
He presses his forehead to mine, and for a moment, we just breathe together, the sound of water hitting tile surrounding us in a cocoon of warmth. Then he smiles—the sweet, lopsided smile that used to make me weak in the knees back in Fillory—and I feel something inside me click back into place.
When he takes my hand to lead me out of the shower, I don't let go.
