Page 78 of Slayer

My mate.

The Cinder Prince.

Heir to a throne.

Leader of a revolution.

Roman Braveheart.

And hopefully my savior.

He closes the distance between us, and then his mouth is on mine. Warmth floods through me like a life force, awakening something long dormant inside my body. Every nerve, every breath, and every fractured piece of me ignites under his touch.

His hands find my sides, firm and certain, pulling me closer until there is no space left between us. I don’t fight it. I can’t. My body gives in, melting against him as if it has always known this.

He guides me back toward the bed without breaking the kiss, slow, like he’s afraid the moment will shatter if he moves too fast. The world narrows to the press of his lips, the steady strength of his hands, the fire threading through my veins.

Everything about him is intoxicating. He lowers me onto the mattress and then, too soon, the kiss stills.

I open my eyes. He’s looking down at me, committing every line of my face to memory like this is something sacred.

“Neressa.” My name leaves his lips for the first time, and it unravels the tightness of my chest. He brushes my curls away from my face, his touch impossibly tender for someone who carries so much power.

“We’re going to figure this out,” he says, each word steady. “Together. I won’t allow you to die. But for now…” His thumb traces lightly along my cheek, his gaze still holding mine, anchoring me. “Sleep. I’ll be here. I’ll make sure you’re safe, even in your dreams. No one will harm you.”

Roman shifts slowly off of me and settles at my side, the mattress dipping beneath his weight. He pulls the covers up over my body with a care that feels foreign. The simple act makes my chest ache.

Sleeping has never felt safe. Too many enemies. Too many ghosts. Too many nights waking with a blade already in my hand and no memory of reaching for it. My past is defined by brutality, but with him here… the air feels different. Quieter. The world has been pushed back beyond these walls. Here, with him, I’m protected.

I turn my head on the pillow to watch him as he shrugs off his cloak, moonlight catching in the sapphire fabric as it slides from his shoulders. He looks softer like this, less like the Cinder Prince and more like the man who held my face while I came apart.

His hand finds one of my curls and he twirls it around his finger. His eyes never leave my face, carving this moment into his memory as if he’s afraid of a future where he won’t have it. My heart turns to lava in my chest, heavy and bright and impossible to contain. I stare up at him, caught in the gravity of those eyes that burn only for me. That burn through me.

My eyes flick to the windows, the ocean beyond it whispering my name. “I should close those,” I say, moving to get up.

His arm tightens around me. “No. Fall asleep to the sound of the waves. No one is coming in here.”

So certain. So unshakable. “A lot of people want me dead,” I shoot back, the old instinct.

A quiet, dangerous smile curves against my hair. “Then if a lot of people come through those windows, a lot of people are going to die.” His hand moves slowly along my back, steady, calming. “Sleep, little ember. You need it.”

The fight drains out of me. I move closer, letting my cheek rest against the solid warmth of his chest. His heart beats a rhythm, a sound stronger than the tide and my fear. I still can’t believe he’s real.

“You can’t protect me from my nightmares,” I murmur, the last fragile truth I have left to give. “Only a witch can.”

A soft breath leaves him, almost a quiet laugh. “Oh, little ember… I am so much more than what you see on the surface.” His fingers slide into my hair, slowly massaging my head. “You will learn every part of me because you are going to be here, alive, long enough to.” He pauses as he looks straight through me.

“Now sleep,” he whispers, his voice wrapping around me like magic. “I will stand between you and every dark thing that has ever tried to take you.”

A promise.

“You are finally safe.”

With his heartbeat beneath my ear and the ocean at my back, I fall asleep in the arms of my fate.

Chapter thirty-one

Little Ember