Page 90 of The Ember and the Emerald

“After I left you in the forest, I went to him. Passed on a message.” Jasher shrugged. “He followed me here. I didn’t learn about Ian’s attack against you until the next morning. And don’t ask me what mess⁠—”

“What message?” I inquired with an unrepentant smile.

He huffed and pursed his lips.

“This feels important,” Kevin said. “Should I leave? Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.”

Working his jaw, Jasher turned the toy to face the wall. “I told him one day an otherworlder with wounded eyes, an enchanting smile and a sharp wit, would step onto his chopping block,” he admitted. “And that, if he harmed her, he would forever regret it.”

A brilliant light beamed through the corridors of my being. He loved me back. He must.

Jashy pretended to gag, and the two males shared a brief grin, both identical and devastating. Then Jashy ran, diving into the open air.

What in the world? I raced after him, grinding to a halt when wings burst from his back, carrying him into the darkening clouds.

Should have realized. Shaking my head at my unnecessary fright, I turned back⁠—

—and forgot every thought in my head.

Jasher stalked toward me, sunrise irises ablaze. “You love me,” he said again, the words less a question than a fragile truth he needed echoed back.

I searched for words, but only found two. “I do.”

A breath away, he settled his hands on my waist and paused a beat as we searched each other’s eyes. Then he lifted me gently, reverently, as though he feared I might vanish if he moved too fast. He carried me to the blanket and laid me down. When he bent his face to my neck, his breath shook. With hunger, yes, but mostly with awe, as if he were committing me to memory in case fate ever tried to steal me away. Again.

“And you?” I whispered, my voice barely holding together. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

He stared at me, features softer than I’d ever seen them. “In lonely outlands, voids echo. You’re our universe.” Slowly, he lowered his head. “To others, ominous.”

The corners of my mouth lifted. I love you, too.

His mouth hovered just over mine. He hesitated to close the remaining distance, as if memorizing me, the moment, afraid it might end. As if he’d been starved for this sight for eons and now wished to savor it.

“Kiss me,” I whispered.

He did. Softly. It wasn’t careful or reckless but inevitable. Slow and meticulous, as though he sought to fuse our souls. As though I’d become a lifeline beyond survival.

My world narrowed to the space between us, where heat bloomed. Invisible flames licked over my skin, through my veins, one languid stroke after another. I burned and I groaned, clutching his shoulders, soaking in the quiet wonder of his touch. He shook, yet he remained steady and unyielding. Devastating in the best way.

He deepened the kiss, feeding me the most intoxicating desire. I melted beneath him, my body molding to his. I clung to his broad shoulders, clutched at his back.

“Jasher.” When my fingers brushed the sculpted arch of his wings, his breath broke, and he jolted against me. I went still. “Did I hurt you?” Even the thought of causing him pain was unbearable.

His irises glowed, suddenly soft and vulnerable. “I feel you here.” He pounded a fist into the center of his chest, rough, honest. Wrecked. “Awareness of you burns in my cells. You live in my thoughts. Own my heartbeats.”

My head spun with tenderness. Not a code, but a declaration.

He rested his forehead against mine, panting, eyes blazing with too much feeling to contain.

“Baby.” The endearment left me, soft but unstoppable. Devastating to my inner armor. “Whatever happens, I will always love you.”

He lifted his head, his gaze holding mine, unguarded now. Not a warrior. Not a monster. But a man who’d been chosen. He gave me a little smile—and then he kissed me again.

More defenses crumbled. He kissed me and meant it.

A ripping noise from beyond us sliced into my awareness. Must have sliced into his, too. He wrenched from me with a growl. In unison, we scrambled to our feet. Jasher palmed his axes on the way up.

The rainbow birds had returned, squawking with panic. Then they flew off in droves. And my stomach sank.