‘You can’t force me to stay with you now,’ Martin muttered, but the corners of his mouth were crooking up into an involuntary smile.
I sighed happily. There was a roar of approval from the gathered crowd outside. Whatever James was saying, it was clearly going down well.
‘You know what I think?’ Gabriel said. I raised my eyebrows at him questioningly. He kissed me gently on the lips and gazed into my eyes. ‘You can only appreciate the light when you understand the shadows. One doesn’t come without the other.’
I leant forward and kissed him. He was right. No matter who we were, shadows surrounded us. We had to deal with them in good ways and in bad but that didn’t mean we couldn’t love the light that life bestowed on us too. The fallout of the last three years was going to be considerable, and there might still be plenty of darkness to come, but the light was growing brighter by the second.