Page 121 of An Empress of Fire & Steel

Sybil’s words consumed Emara as she pulled the plug in the tub, letting the water flow down the drain. She had known from the moment Torin had given her the spear that she had wanted to give him something back. But never for one second had she thought about it being the knowledge of where her heart lay. Telling him fully, letting him in fully.

It was absurd, wasn’t it, to even consider her heart an adequate gift?

It was haughty, and surely not enough.

As she jumped from the tub, she pulled a warmed towel from the rail and wrapped it around her, scanning the room. Just as she tucked the soft towel into a fold that held it on her body, a hand touched her shoulder, and her heart leapt into her mouth. She spun, eyes darting around the room, but not a soul could be seen.

“Hello?”

No one had come in the door. And it was still firmly locked.

But maybe they didn’t need to.

“Callyn?” she dared to ask out into the room, but silence was her only answer.

Calming herself, she listened to her magic, but it was also silent. A shiver swept through her, then she noticed a gleaming light under the arch that split her bathing chamber and bedroom. It was a tiny orb of light, like the one that had led her to the waterfall, only smaller.

It was spirit.

It was Callyn, she was certain.

Emara let out a gasp as she waited for something to happen, but nothing did. She didn’t appear or even flicker in and out. Emara could only hear the echo from her voice in the woods at the back of her mind before the orb flashed and disappeared. A wave of sadness struck her, causing her to sit down on the edge of the tub. Cally didn’t have the energy to come through and show herself again, she realised.

It is time for you to give in to your heart.

Cally’s words at the waterfall almost mirrored what Sybil had said today. Had Callyn been standing there on that mountain top too?

Sybil’s words turned over in her mind again for the millionth time.

I don’t believe how much you are underestimating yourself right now. You clearly have no idea how much you mean to him. Or what it would mean to him if you showed him how you felt.

Showed.

It was true.

He had shown his cards time and time again. Not only had he declared how he felt about her, but he had shown her too. He had walked in his actions instead of just talking about them. Torin had shown her a side to him she would have never known was there, a softer, caring, and considerate side—a side that could wipe her tears and hold her hand. He had shown a side that was fiercely protective, yet he never doubted that she could handle herself. He trusted her. Gods, he had given her his own sword at the tower, and he had given her a personalised weapon of her own. He had shown her a side of wild unpredictability, and yet he had also shown that he was stable. He kissed her like he was ready to give her everything, every breath, every beat of his heart. He was ready for her, and she for him. And that didn’t involve the alliance between their factions.

She had been ready for him to sweep her up into his arms the minute he had broken her down in the forest when he had provoked her into using her magic, even if she didn’t like to admit it. She was ready for their bodies to be closer in a way that wasn’t just dancing, like when he had whispered into her ear at the Uplift. She had been more than ready for his lips on hers as she had finally spoken the words he had longed to hear.

Kiss me.

And, when his lips had found hers, something had consumed her. Something had well and truly overcome who she had been before and who she no longer was. Her blood sang for him, for his touch, for his smile, for his kiss. And she knew it sang for more, much more, but she had silenced it for so long, unwilling to admit when would be the right time to release herself to it.

The magic in her blood tingled.

This was her choice. She was in control of her choice.

Now was the time to show him how much he meant to her. Now, before the darkness, or whatever was coming for her, did.

Getting up from her bed, she found her journal and feather quill.

It was time for her to orchestrate a gift that she had never given to anyone before. Something that she was in control of. Something that she had thought about for a long time.

Her heart slammed against her chest as she put ink to paper in a request that would send her cheeks into a pink flush if she had to ask for it in person.

She only knew of one place in which you could retrieve such things as she required, and it was far from where she was now, much too far to travel. There was only one person in the kingdom she would write to for such a request.

After the ink dried, she folded the paper with a wish that the recipient would retrieve it with no one else’s peeking eye. However, that was a risk she took as she dropped the paper into the enchanted flames and whispered Breighly Baxgroll’s name out loud.

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