Page 196 of A Fire in the Flesh

My nose scrunched. “Almost impossible?”

His chuckle rumbled against my back. “Almost,” he repeated. “I’m simply more…in tune with you than anyone else.”

I thought about that. Just a drop of my blood had allowed him to sense if I was in danger, even if he was in Iliseeum and I was in the mortal realm. He’d taken far more than a drop since then, so it made sense that his ability to read emotions, something he’d gotten from his mother, would also be enhanced when it came to me.

But did that mean he would feel what I felt when I…when I died?

My chest clenched. Gods, I hoped not.

I couldn’t think about that, though. Only the gods knew what emotion he picked up when I did.

“I’m not sad,” I told him.

“Sera,” he sighed.

“It’s not what you think. It’s just that I wish…I wish we had more time.”

“We will.”

I pressed my lips together as I nodded.

His chin grazed the side of my face. “You’re so brave. So godsdamn brave and strong,” he whispered. “There is no one like you, Sera.”

“Stop being…” I trailed off, my brows knitting.

“Stop being sweet?” Ash said. “As I said before—”

“You’re only telling the truth.” The skin of my shoulders pimpled. My dream came back to me in a rush. “I dreamt of you saying that.”

“I know.”

I stiffened, then jerked upright before twisting in his lap to face him. “The dreams—”

“They weren’t normal dreams.” Tendrils of eather brightened his eyes.

My mouth fell open.

“I should’ve picked up on it the first time,” he said. “Especially when you kept arguing that it was your dream.”

“I wasn’t arguing.”

That warm, soft grin returned. “You have such a strange understanding of the word arguing.”

“Maybe it is you who does?”

His lips curved up farther. “Either way, everything was too damn real. The feel of the grass beneath me. The feel of you.” The hand at my hip swept up my waist as his gaze dropped to where the fizzing water teased the tips of my breasts. His voice thickened. “The feel of being inside you. No dreams could replicate the beauty of that.”

My heart skipped a beat as I stared at him. “Everything did feel real. Both times—” The skipping motion moved to my stomach. “You told me to tell Kolis that I needed you to Ascend, and to summon the Arae.”

“I did. It was the best plan I could come up with,” he confirmed. “I knew he would never let me leave with you, but it would’ve given us a chance to escape.”

Ash was right. Kolis never would’ve allowed him to leave with me. If it had come down to it, he would’ve just kept Ash there until my Ascension happened.

“In the end, you didn’t need me to get free,” he said, pride filling his voice. My cheeks warmed in response. “You had it handled.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said. “I never would’ve gotten out of Dalos without you.”

“I disagree. You would’ve found a way.” Ash leaned in, kissing me softly. “And I’m confident enough in my strength to admit that.”

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