He’d started the plunge, over the edge into darkness. But it was not dark. It was warm and bright, and it felt like coming home.
So, he reached for her chin, and tilted it up gently, slowly, until their gazes met. He nearly melted into a puddle of desire right there, with his fingertips on her skin. He’d never touched anyone like this.Not even when he’d held Soraya’s face in his hands...because she hadn’t belonged to him.
By then, she’d already given herself to the darkness.
Ezer was light.
Ezer wasfire,and...
And he’d be damned if he didn’t let her burn him.
“And for the first time, Minder...I am doubting the laws for my matching. I am...” He sighed, nearly bridging the gap. “I am not sleeping, because when I do, I think of you.”
She sucked in a breath.
“When I see you, I feel like I can’t breathe.”
Her eyes were molten upon him.
“When I am near you...it is an effort to look away.”
“Why?” She asked. So boldly. Without hesitation, his Minder questioned him.
“Because you are different,” he said. “You are...like nothing I’ve ever encountered before.”
“And that’s a good thing?” she whispered.
“I’m still trying to figure that out,” he said.
But his mind whisperedyes.
Because he could feel the war in his own heart, raging. He’d been fighting so hard, for so long, not to give in.
But in this moment...
He was waving a white flag.
He wanted to lose.
He could feel his entire body shaking, too weak to hold back any longer. He needed her. He needed her now, or he would combust.
“Are you afraid of me, Firemage?” she asked him.
Oh, gods,if only she knew.
“Terrified,” he whispered, as he stared at her lips.
He was her future king. And she was a Raphonminder, one who might die the moment she passed into the Sawteeth. His heart was a shattered thing, and it wasn’t his to give. Not to her. Not to anyone.
But in this moment...he didn’t care.
Because he might die right now, if he didn’t have her.
“You can kiss me now,” Ezer said.
And those words...
They ignited him.
