The world around her began to swim.
Buthewas solid. He was … intoxicating.
She leaned forward, and breathed him in.
Six huffed in the background and turned her back to them.
‘You gave her to me, Kinlear,’ Ezer whispered. Her words … were they slurring? ‘Youare the reason she is free.’
No one else had ever believed in her like he had.
No one else had ever given her as sweet a gift.
‘Ezer …’ He grinned down at her as his hand slid atop hers. She could feel his beating heart, and in the back of her mind, she knew that soon … it would go still. She pressed closer to him. ‘A lifetime in the Citadel… andyouare the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. Do you know that?’
She shook her head as he coughed again.
As his outline blurred, and she had to blink to resettle herself again.
‘All the waiting, all the hoping, the prayers for true healing that did not come.’ He nodded. ‘It was all worth it. Because of you.’
She could have sworn his skin was glowing, that his eyes had become stars, that his dark curls would be sosoftif she just reached up and ran her fingers through them.
That strange voice called to her again, but she shut it out.
Because she was melting into a puddle of warmth, and … and through the veil, she knew, by the way he was looking at her …
Helovedher.
‘Ezer,’ he whispered.
A strange little shiver ran up and down her spine.
She did not back away.
‘There’s something I want you to know, before I …’
She was floating. Perhaps she was dead.
But her heart wouldn’t be pounding this hard if she were dead. And that feeling in her bones …
She licked her lips, and noticed his gaze dropped to them.
Something powerful, unexpected, shot through her.
Desire.
‘Ezer,’ Kinlear breathed.
‘Yes, Kinlear?’ Ezer whispered.
And he stepped even closer, and lifted a hand to her cheek, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
He was her mystery.
And suddenly she wanted to solve him.
‘I think … I have known for a while now,’ he whispered. He smiled, his eyes glassy as the dark power pulsed from the door. ‘When I look at you … when I am near you … it becomes so much clearer.’ His hand drew lazy circles around hers, and it set her on fire. ‘I need you to know, Ezer. I think … I think I am falling?—’
