PROLOGUE
He’s sleeping facing me, utterly undone. The moonlight sinking in through the drifting curtains, pooling across his body in silver ribbons. Sheets bunched low over his hips, shadows tucked into every sharp line of his muscle, dragging the eye—dragging me—downward.
He looks deceptively at peace, one arm curled under his head, the other slack at his side. But the taste of him still lingers on my lips, the burn of his kiss branded onto my throat. And the shake in my legs hasn’t gone away. My body is heavy with it, ruined in the most addictive kind of way.
Fingers drift before I can stop them, tracing the mark just above his heart. Warm, real.
Ishouldbe happy. God, I should be revelling in this moment, this quiet, unguarded moment after we’ve consumed each other whole.
…And yet I can’t sleep.
Because every time I close my eyes,hefinds me.
The other one.
He waits just beyond the darkness, behind my lids. Never in full view. Just… standing there. Too still. Toopresent. The sight of him alone is enough to freeze the breath in my lungs.
The words though... The words are what terrify me more.
I can’t un-hear them. They’re not just in my dreams anymore. They echo. Inside my blood. My teeth. My bones. Carved into me like a curse.
Apromise.
But the darkest thing, the thing I can’t even say aloud, the one that must be kept secret—far heavier than the dreams, the voice, or even the figure itself—is that somewhere deep inside me, I know the words aretrue…
“When the world burns, child, you will not resist. You will kneel. You will give yourself to me freely. And when you do, the last Thread of the Fifth Realm will seal. The flames will rise. All that you love will die. He will die. And it will all be because of you.”
CHAPTER ONE
The problem with waking up next to a man like Bren...? You forget why you’re supposed to leave.
Not because he’s soft, he’s anything but. Bren smells of smoke, scorched iron, and the kind of heat that melts good judgment.
And that’s a damn problem.
Especially here in the Outerlands, where magic’s outlawed, your neighbours would trade you for half a ration, and dragons don’t just circle the northern peaks anymore, they drift closer every day.
I reach for my watch.
One glance.
Shit.
I’m late.
The patrol shift changes in forty minutes, and if I’m not across the Ravine and over the Innerland wall by then I won’t just lose my window—I’ll be seen. And if I’m seen, I’m dead.
I shift under the blanket, the rough wool scratches my legs as I try to calculate the alley turns and how long the traders will stay in the west market. One hour, maybe less. That’s all the timeI have to pick up the Spice run and get the Ash-dried Dragon Scale. It’s the only day the traders come through this month, and Kael made it clear, if I don’t bring back what I owe, he’ll take payment in blood.
Mine.
But the morning air beyond the window is cold—Ashvale autumns always are—and the warmth of Bren’s body clings to my skin like temptation. The dangerous kind. The kind that doesn’t just seduce, it stalls.
Just one more minute.
That’s all it ever is.
From the bed I scan the room, locating where my clothes ended up after last night’s antics. It’s familiar, too familiar. I’ve spent way too many nights here... more than I want to admit. Rough-hewn wooden walls, a single shelf crowded with battered books, and a window that barely keeps the coming winter chill out. It’s surprisingly clean for a bachelor though, and thank the stars he's still single, because yesterday was my twenty-first birthday, and yeah, I should’ve known better, but Bren made one hell of a gift.
