What Remains After Fire 2
What Remains After Fire 2
“I didn’t let them take more from me,” I pressed on.
“I know,” She pulled back just enough to look at me, and her expression finally softened. It felt like looking at a mirror, except I had no reason to look away this time.
“You protected the people and the place you cared about,” she voiced out with a grace that felt too gentle to swallow. “Despite what it cost you.“
Her hand rose, pressing lightly over my heart. “ I’m still here.” Her voice dropped low. “Maybe not whole. But I'm still here, still you.”
I couldn’t breathe for a second. Then I let the tears fall. “You forgive me?” I didn't bother hiding my pain.
“This time,” she cooed with a small smile. “Because you didn’t cower. You didn’t give more of yourself away for nothing. And mostly because you finally stood for what you wanted.”
“I don’t want to lose you,” I felt my body growing lighter, recognizing the sensation.
“You won’t,” she leaned forward to press a kiss on my forehead, and I closed my eyes, knowing the dream was fading.
“Promise?“ I whispered.
“Promise,” she whispered back to me. So I let myself wake up.
The air was scented heavily of Ethan. His fragrance was mostly made of pine and the forest, and something I still couldn't name, but I recognized.
Ethan was asleep beside me with one hand curled against my shoulder like he’d never stopped holding on. His other arm wrapped carefully, loosely over my waist.
The sun poured through the window in soft strips across my old bed. My body ached in a way that was deeper than flesh. I could feel the absence inside me like a room someone had moved out of.
But I was here, alive, and whole enough because he was beside me.
I reached up, brushing a knuckle down his cheekbone. He shifted slightly before exhaling against my skin. His lashes fluttered beautifully with his hair pooling across his face.
My heart stirred awake at the sight because at some point, he had become all I’d really wanted, even when I pretended I needed more.
Revenge and Survival. They all meant nothing in the face of possibly losing him, and that said a lot.
I had a choice now.
I could use whatever time I had left to hunt down Higan and torture Becca if she was still alive. Or I could live and move forward with him.
But I suppose deep down, I knew the answer because right now, I couldn't bring myself to care for Higan or Becca.
Ethan finally stirred awake with his eyelashes fluttering before his gaze met mine. For a long minute, he simply stared at me as though I might disappear if he blinked. “Hey,” he rasped groggily with his voice heavy from sleep.
“Hi,” I whispered back with my hoarser voice.
He studied me for a second, then leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.
The kiss wasn’t rushed nor desperate despite the underlying hunger in the way his lips swallowed mine.
His mouth moved with mine with gentleness I hadn’t realized I missed. The pressure of it made my throat tighten, but I couldn't cry yet in the sight of the bliss of it.
I kissed him back, threading my fingers into the short curls at the nape of his neck and holding him there firmly.
He pulled away only a little, just enough to let me breathe, but I knew he wanted more.
“You have an awful habit of scaring me, Harlyn Sage,” he rumbled with a weak frown. “I felt you fade away, you know.”
“I'm sorry,” I croaked, “for scaring you,” I clarified, because I was in no way feeling sorry for saving his life.
He brushed a thumb across my jaw and exhaled shakily. “In time you will be, but I'm glad you're awake now, love,” his accent sharpened at the end of his word, triggering a flurry of butterflies in my gut.
“I'm glad you're okay,” I admitted, staring into his deep green eyes.
“I missed the hazel of your eyes,” he reached to gently caress my cheek, and I couldn't help the grin that split my lips.
We stayed like that for a long time, simply breathing as we held each other. I had so many questions, and I could feel he had many things he wanted to tell me.
Out of the blue, he revealed, “Becca didn’t make it.”
I leaned back slightly, blinking in surprise. She really went ahead to die on me. “Oh.“
“She died with Vorare. I believe channelling him came with consequences of their own,” Ethan said without hesitation. “Her body was gone when he disintegrated.”
For a second, I didn’t know what to feel, but then a dry laugh broke from my chest. It wasn’t joy, for some reason, it was relief and something else I couldn’t label. Something Tired.
“So I didn’t get to kill her,” I hummed. “Didn’t even get to say it was for my parents.”
“You didn’t need to,” he said quietly as my eyes trailed away from his open gaze. I felt ashamed knowing how I'd been stubborn about it. “She got what was coming to her. That’s enough.”
There was a pause. I could feel the next question rising.
“Higan?” I asked hesitantly.
Ethan’s expression didn’t change, yet his annoyance reached me. “He’s locked up. Lorcan found him crawling out of the northern tunnels, trying to escape. We made sure no one helped him.”
I tilted my head. “Is he still insisting on playing Alpha of Springville?”
“Not anymore. The entire town turned its back on him. Even his father officially disowned him as his son.”
I stared past him at the soft sunlight that lit the edges of the room. I let myself feel the weight of that answer.
So many nights, I ached in the name of his rejection and the humiliation of being rebuked by the entire town. Yet now he had been rejected and deemed unworthy of his title and rebuked by the entire town.
“That’s punishment enough,” I muttered.
Ethan raised an amused brow. “We'll let him live knowing the very town he wanted to rule would rather ignore him.” I looked at Ethan. “Let's send him away.”
“Are you sure?” Ethan pressed on. I felt his hesitance, and I understood, but Higan wasn't a threat anymore. At least not one worth acknowledging.
“Springville is done with him,” I said. “Stripping him of his title is the worst thing I can do to him.”
Ethan nodded once. “I'll make sure the crescents see to it. After all, it's the first order of their new Alpha.“