Page 41 of Echoes of Fire

I leaned down to capture her lips in a slow, lingering kiss, my tongue sweeping against hers in a silent promise. When I pulled back, her eyes were half-lidded, her breath coming in shallow pants.

“I am yours,” I said, the words a low rumble that vibrated through her.

Her fingers traced the line of my jaw, her touch feather-light but searing. “I know,” she whispered.

I shifted slightly, my wings mantling around us as I reached for the dagger I had placed on the stone beside us. The blade gleamed in the light, the heat crystals embedded in its surface casting a soft glow. I held it out to her, the hilt resting in my palm.

“This is yours,” I said, my voice rough with emotion. “A symbol of our bond. Of what could be together.”

She hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take it, her fingers brushing against mine. The contact sent a jolt of heat through me, and I had to fight the urge to pull her back into my arms.

I reached out to cup her face, my claws gentle against her skin. “You are my heart’s eternal flame,shyrarva.”

Her breath hitched, and she leaned into my touch, her eyes closing briefly. When she opened them again, they were filled with a determination that made my chest swell with pride. “You keep calling me that. What does it mean?”

“It is your mating name. And I just said you are my fire’s heart.”

How could she not know?

Sweat had plastered some of her fading purple hair to her forehead, and she brushed it away. “And you just had that ready on the tip of your tongue when you, uh,” she stumbled over the word, “claimed me?”

I could hide the full truth from her no longer.

“I’d had some time to think of it. I’ve known you were my mate from the moment I first laid eyes on you. Healer Mysha had to throw me out of the healing caverns when you first came to Scalvaris. I nearly tore the place apart to find you. If I had not been sent out to protect the city, I would have come for you long before that day.”

My shyrarva was silent for several beats.

She placed the dagger on the stone beside us, her movements slow and deliberate. Then she reached up to pull me down into another kiss, her lips soft and demanding against mine. My wings tightened around us, shielding her from the world as I lost myself in the taste of her, in the feel of her body pressed against mine.

There was nothing else. Just her. Just us. And the bond that tied us together, unbreakable and finally whole.

FIFTEEN

ORLA

The market’s chaos buzzed against my skin, every scent and shout sharpened by the low thrum of anxiety in my veins. I pressed my back against a stall draped in tapestries, their threads pulsing faintly with captured geothermal energy.

My journal lay open in my lap, half-filled with sketches of festival preparations—flame-blackened meat skewers dripping with alien spices, crystalline lanterns strung between dark pillars, a trio of Drakarn children darting underfoot with stolen sweets clutched in their claws.

I forced my pencil to keep moving, ignoring the way vendors avoided my gaze as I passed. Their slit-pupiled eyes tracked me from behind stalls, whispers hissing through sharp teeth.Outsider. Human. False-mate.The words slithered around me, unspoken but unable to ignore.

With Rath, everything felt … so freaking perfect I thought I might explode. Out here, alone, I was forced to remember everythingelse.

A familiar laugh cut through the noise. My head snapped up.Selene. There she was, her braid swinging as she walked besideVega and Eden, their heads bent in conversation. Relief surged hot and sudden in my chest. I opened my mouth to call out?—

They turned a corner, vanishing behind a curtain of smoldering incense.

“Damn it,” I muttered, snapping the journal shut. The movement sent a flock of paperwing moths scattering from a nearby fruit cart. I stood, brushing volcanic grit from my pants, when the air shifted.

A shadow fell across my notes.

Three Drakarn warriors blocked the path, their scales dulled with ash deliberately rubbed into the grooves as if they were trying to disguise themselves. The tallest bared his fangs in a mockery of a smile. “The councilor’s pet requires an escort.”

No chance in hell.

My pulse spiked. “I’m fine.”

The one on the left lunged.

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