Page 27 of The Incendiary

The sun’s rays in the middle of summer were sweltering. The heat burned my skin just enough to cleanse it and leave it feeling renewed and fresh. Sweat beaded at the base of my neck and stuck my black shirt to my skin.

Trees rustling in the gentle breeze and faint seagull calls to the east were all that could be heard. We faced west, looking inland, though I knew the castle’s view of the Brinnean Sea would be breathtaking.

Ella sat with her eyes closed, propped up on her elbows, head relaxed and leaning to one side. I couldn’t stop staring. In the city below, silence was hard to come by. On this castle rooftop, if I listened closely enough, I could hear her breathing. I wanted to listen to that sound of her living for the rest of my life. I never wanted to experience my world without her at the center of it.

She was a royal. I was a filthy, unrefined commoner. That only bothered me because the disparity made it difficult to spend time together.

“I can feel you staring at me, you know.” She peeked with one eye open.

“It’s extremely difficult not to stare at you.” I shifted to ease the pressure on my cock, which was almost always hard around her. She seemed blissfully unaware.

Her bashful smile accentuated the dimples in her cheeks and seventeen freckles over the bridge of her nose. I had to tear my eyes away before the beautiful sight of her burned me alive faster than the sun ever could.

Desperate to think of anything to distract myself from all the ways I wanted her, I asked the first question that came to mind. “How do you know the guards won’t follow you up here?”

“They won’t.” She blushed and looked down. “I told them I’d be up here sunbathing in… compromising attire.”

Fuck.

Before I could stop myself, I groaned and ran my hand over my face, seriously considering staring directly into the sun just to keep my imagination from running rampant.

“What?” she muttered nervously.

“Nothing,” I answered, voice strained. I’d be drawing upon those images the next time I was alone.

Right when I thought I’d recovered from the loss of blood to my brain, a flawless, shiny, silver coin landed in my lap. I chuckled. “I can only imagine how poor you must think I am, Aryella, but are you paying me for my time?”

“No!” she gasped, cheeks flushing. She crossed her legs beneath the cover of her long dress. “It’s for your thoughts. It’s something my mother used to do before…” She swallowed thickly. I knew where her mind went: Queen Christabel, sick and bedridden after Molochai’s curse. “I used to lose myself in a daze or in my imagination. It was just a game she played to pull me out of it. ‘Coin for your thoughts,’” she added, reaching for the coin back. “It’s silly.”

“No, no!” I closed my fist around the coin. “I’ll happily play your little game.” Now was the perfect time to ask something I’d been wondering about for weeks. “I want to know why you came to my blacksmith’s shop a month ago.”

She stared toward the clearing to the west. “I’ve told you. I needed a weapon, and I needed someone to teach me to fight.”

“A lot of people can teach you to fight, Ella.”

She picked at her nails while I waited. I wasn’t patient, but I could be for her.

“I wanted to choose something.”

My brows lifted. “And you chose me?”

“Shouldn’t I have?” She laced our fingers together, seeking my gaze in earnest. “I’m glad I chose you.”

My mouth parted in shock. Isaac and Eden had cared for me, but I knew they’d taken me in out of guilt rather than a true desire to raise a ward. Especially Isaac, who’d trained me as his apprentice but seemed less than pleased about it.

“I’m glad I chose you.”

Somehow I knew I would cherish her words forever. Even if she changed her mind and decided she wanted nothing to do with me, in this moment, she chose me.

“I’m glad you chose me, too,” I answered, wishing I could return the pure light and goodness she breathed into everything and everyone around her.

I gave her the coin back. She swirled it between her fingers. “Can I ask you another question?”

“Don’t I need the coin to answer?”

She laughed. I’d never tire of that sound. “If you could choose any life but this one, what would it look like?”

“You first.”