Page 239 of Axis of Fire

“Were you not expecting me?”

He tilted his head slightly.

As though he’d expected a different answer.

The memory of the dream hit me without warning.

And...

I was suddenly afraid to answer.

What if I said something I shouldn’t?

My feelings felt strange.

Unfamiliar.

And that uncertainty frightened me more than anything else.

“And who decided to touch this perfection, Fireling?”

I frowned, completely confused.

Airis gestured toward his own face.

My fingers brushed my cheek—

And I instantly flinched as a sharp sting shot through it.

The adrenaline must have numbed the pain until now.

“The statues Miloran animated,” I answered.

Then the meaning of his words finally caught up with me.

“Wait.”

“Did you just call my face perfection?”

One of his brows lifted.

His lips parted slightly.

His tongue brushed the back of his teeth before he answered, his voice lower now.

“I leave you alone for two days, and suddenly your imagination starts breaking speed records.”

I looked away, biting the inside of my cheek.

Had I really connected reality with the dream?

Maybe after everything Luis had told me about seers, I’d started thinking the same way—

As though everything existed on the same timeline.

God.

How embarrassing.