Page 107 of The Spark that Ignites
He stilled, his eyes squeezing shut. “I’m angryIcouldn’t do it. Couldn’t think past the risks.” Like before when she had burned him at the Skyborne Temple, he manipulated this situation to blame himself. Maybe hewaspunishing himself earlier. He certainly had a knack for finding a way to make himself the villain.
Her bones rattled as she shivered.
“Are you cold?” Vesper asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
Emmery grumbled, “I’m fine.” Though she squirmed a bit closer to his warmth.
The bed shifted as he rolled and cocooned her in his arms. “Is this alright? You can tell me to piss off.”
Emmery nodded in the dark.
Apparently, all was forgiven, at least for now.
Vesper’s body was a rigid, warm solace. His arms banding her waist, hand splayed on her stomach, and breath tickling her neck was oddly comforting, like they’d done it before. But otherthan that night after summoning Maela, they hadn’t gotten close like this. It stopped her shaking.
Vesper removed his arms and took her hair into his hands.
Her breath seized and she threw over her shoulder, “What are you doing?”
“It’s tangled and will never dry like this.” He meticulously ran his fingers through the knots and her eyes fluttered shut, lips parting, as she leaned into his gentle hands. How long had it been since she’d let anyone touch her like this? She couldn’t remember other than her mother tending to her hair. But she was only a child then. Had it been that long?
When Emmery braided Maela’s hair, it was an act of love—affectionate in the only way she knew how. Is that what this was? She was overthinking it. She had to be.
Once Vesper finished, he laid the damp strands against the pillow and held her again.
“Thank you,” she murmured. She sank into his body, grateful for that connection—the comfort from another living being she didn’t know was missing.
His heart thumped against her back as he tucked her head under his chin. “Don’t worry about it.”
Silence stretched with his long, even breaths but her mind raced, and she couldn’t calm it to find sleep. She needed a damn drink.
“I need to ask something,” he said, his rough voice rumbling through her body.
Her stomach sank and she waited on bated breath.
“At the cave, you mentioned you...” Vesper swallowed, breaching the subject carefully. “I assumed you weren’t talking about the beggar woman.”
She worried her bottom lip. “It’s a long story. And not a nice one.”
“I’m not judging. You know I’ve taken lives before. You were there when I turned that guard’s throat to confetti.” His arms tightened. “But I hope you know you can tell me. I’ll keep your secrets safe. And it might help to talk about it. Telling you about Izzy helped me.” He shrugged but thick emotion tainted his voice.
Emmery released a tense breath. She hadn’t reciprocated after he shared about his family, but he also hadn’t pressed. Maybe she owed him. Or perhaps it was finally time to offload this from her heart. But one thing held her back. “I don’t want you to look at me differently. And if I tell you—there’s no way you won’t.”
“Bloody Hollow, Emmery, don’t you know by now you can’t drive me away? You’re stuck with me.”
She sighed a deep heavy breath. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Take your time.” He settled into the mattress. “We have all night.”
Emmery sifted through the memories she had stifled all these years, deciding to start with a raw truth. “My sister was my entire world. And even before my mother passed, I promised I would give her everything despite the cost.” Emmery paused, taking a shaky breath, the vulnerability of her story spilling from her soul. “There was this ... man. Nathaniel.” She swallowed her rising bile as she spoke his name for the first time in nearly a century. “He offered me steady work, and I did all sorts of odd jobs to make ends meet. He was charming, kind, and slipped into my thoughts frequently. I wasn’t very old when he propositioned me. He was a grown man, and I hadn’t even reached my twentieth year.” This was after she’d wandered the woods for months and lost her memories of it. She had thought it was the lowest point of her life, but she didn’t know the heartache awaiting her.
Vesper stiffened. “Did you love him?”
“I thought I did. But ... I was young. Naive. And I didn’t know what love was. He was powerful and promised to take care of us if I gave myself to him.” She drew in a ragged breath that only burned her seizing lungs. “I showed him my scars, Vesper. Revealed my magic even though I knew it was dangerous. But I chose to trust him, and he used me. Even that first night he was ... rough, possessive. He had hit me before but—not like that. He ...tookfrom me. I changed my mind. I said no but ... he wouldn’t stop, and it was too late—” Her voice broke, her heart shattering all over again.
She had never said it aloud. Never voiced her shame. That wound never healed. Never would. Hot tears spilled down her cheek. “It was my fault.”
“It wasnotyour fault. Not at all. Don’teversay that.” Vesper held her gently, mumbling into her hair. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry—” As if he could take back the question. But it was essential to the story, and she went on.
