Lucian Voss

The moment the rooftop door clicked shut behind her, I finally exhaled. The breath escaped my lungs like it had been locked there for days, and when it left, it dragged something hollow with it.

My chest felt empty. Not because she was gone. But because of what she left behind.

That kiss.

It didn’t rescue me. It didn’t wrap my sins in forgiveness or wash away what I had done.

It did something far worse.

It set me on fire.

Siena had tasted like salt and sorrow, like fire and something warmer hiding just underneath. Her mouth had moved with a kind of pain that felt older...