Page 51 of Her Fallen Angel

"Your prayers echo in my head. Your voice follows me everywhere, even into darkness. Into places where your light should never reach." My grip tightens. "You stir something in me that I've never felt before."

She tries to speak but I press a finger to her lips. The confession claws its way out of my throat.

"I've conquered cities. Broken armies. Stood alone against everything this world threw at me. Never needed anyone." My wings draw closer, cocooning us in shadow. "Then you kneel inthat courtyard, wrapped in sunlight, and I'm undone. Your faith should revolt me. Your submission should bore me. Instead, I find myself seeking you out, drawn to your quiet strength. Drawn to you and unable to stop it."

Her pulse races beneath my touch. The violet of my eyes reflects in her dark ones, magic surging with emotion I can't contain.

"You broke me, little flame. Piece by piece. Prayer by prayer. Until everything I am belongs to you." The words tear from me, rough and raw. "I wanted to extinguish your light. Instead, it's become the only thing keeping my darkness at bay."

Aren's palm brushes my cheek, her touch feather-light against my skin. My wings shudder at the contact. Every instinct screams to pull away, to maintain the barriers I've spent years building. Instead, I lean into her hand, letting her warmth seep into my cold flesh.

"The thought of you walking away..." My voice breaks. Magic surges through my veins, turning my eyes molten violet. "It rips me apart. Makes me want to tear this whole fucking world down."

Her fingers trace the sharp line of my jaw, and I capture her wrist in my grip. Not to stop her - to anchor myself as these foreign emotions threaten to drown me.

"I've spent my life taking. Conquering. Breaking everything I touch." My other hand tangles in her dark waves, tilting her face up. "But you... the thought of breaking you doesn't satisfy me anymore. The thought of losing you..."

A growl tears from my throat. My wings snap forward, caging her against my chest. The need to possess her, to keep her close, burns through my blood like wildfire.

"I'd rather die than watch you leave." The confession rips from me, raw and bleeding. "I'd burn this city to ash. Tear down the walls of New Solas itself. Anything to keep you."

Aren's breath catches. Her pulse races beneath my fingers, but she doesn't pull away. She never pulls away, even when faced with the darkness inside me.

"I love you." The words feel foreign on my tongue, sharp as broken glass. "Gods help me, I fucking love you. Every prayer. Every defiance. Every scrap of light you've brought into my darkness."

My forehead presses against hers, wings trembling with the force of emotion I can't contain. For the first time in my life, I surrender completely, letting the last of my walls crumble beneath her gentle touch.

"Kai," she whispers, looking so soft, so gentle. I've never seen her like this. "Can you not see that I love you? That I've loved you for so long?"

"What?"

She bites down on her bottom lip as she grins. "I love you."

Her words - those three simple words - shatter something primal inside me. My control splinters as I yank her against my chest, burying my face in the curve of her neck. Her pulse thrums beneath my lips, a steady rhythm that grounds me as my magic surges and settles around us both.

Dark violet energy ripples through the air, weaving a protective cocoon that shields us from the world. My wings follow suit, their ash-gray expanse creating a fortress of feathers and shadow. The scars along their edges catch the dim light as they curl tighter, pressing her closer.

Her skin burns against mine, a stark contrast to the cold emptiness I've carried for my entire life. My fingers dig into her waist, probably hard enough to bruise, but I can't bring myself to loosen my grip. She's real. She's here. She's mine.

The magic responds to my possessiveness, threading through her dark waves like violet lightning. It seeps into her very essence, marking her as mine in ways no physical claim evercould. The power should frighten her - it's broken lesser beings - but she merely sighs and melts further into my embrace.

"Little flame." My voice comes out rough against her throat. The nickname holds new meaning now, weighted with everything I couldn't say before. She truly is my flame, burning away the darkness I've cultivated for so long.

My magic pulses with each beat of her heart, synchronizing until I can't tell where my power ends and she begins. The violet energy wraps around her like a second skin, protective and possessive all at once. It's never responded this way to anyone else - never sought to shelter rather than destroy.

I breathe her in, letting her presence calm the storm of emotions raging through my blood. The scent of her faith mingles with my magic, creating something entirely new. Something sacred and profane all at once. A perfect balance of light and shadow, just like us.

28

ARENWEN

He kisses up my throat and along my jaw, and I melt into him. Into his touch. His words. His confession.

This xaphan has become my everything, my reason to live. And I would do anything for him.

I lift my face to Kai as he pulls back, my heart thundering against my ribs. His touch on my cheek sends a thrill igniting through me - those deadly warrior's hands so unexpectedly tender. The vulnerability in his violet eyes steals my breath.

"Little flame," he whispers, thumb tracing my jawline.

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