Aria POV

The fire should have left me hollow. Spent. Sated. Whatever word one used when every nerve had been pulled taut, then cut loose in a blaze. Instead, it left me raw. Like my skin had been peeled back and everything beneath,the trembling, the want, the fear,was laid bare for him to see.

Kael’s arm was heavy around my waist, an anchor pinning me in place when every instinct screamed to run. To breathe alone. To rebuild my walls before anyone, especially him, could see the mess inside.

His hand traced slow, lazy circles against my hip, each stroke sending tremors up my spine. A cruel reminder that he...