Page 27 of Hearts on Fire
“I’ll come with you. No matter what time in your world we will land. I’ll take care of you. We’ll be together.”
“Oh, my God, Elex…” Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, she buried her face in his shoulder, just like when they flew across the ocean back in her world. Back when she smiled and teased him, and when life felt easier somehow.
Maybe he could take her up over the ocean again. Maybe he could make her happy, after all?
“You really mean it, don’t you?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You’d leave Nerifir for me? You’d spend the rest of your life in the human world?”
Determination grew in his heart. “I’ll live longer than you. I’ll protect you until the day you die.”
“But then what? What would happen to you when I’m no longer there? You’ll be alone.”
“As I would be here.” Sorrow tightened around his heart at the thought of her death. Even if she lived well into old age, it would still be too soon. The human lifespan was just so heartbreakingly short.
“No, Elex. Here, you’re with your own kind. In your family home. When in my world…” Her chest rose and fell with a sigh. “Humans aren’t better than fae, you know? They may be fascinated by the extraordinary, but that wouldn’t stop them from trying to destroy you, one way or another. There is not a point in human history when you wouldn’t have to hide what you are.”
She ran her hands through his hair, and he kept still, enjoying it way too much.
“I appreciate you trying to right what’s wrong, Elex. But returning to my world is just not going to work at this point. Not for you, not for me.”
Things couldn’t remain the way they were, though.
“If we stay in Dakath,” he said, “you can’t continue living with thesalamandra.I want you with me, living in my room, not working hard with them from sunrise to sunset.”
“Hard work doesn’t scare me. I never had it easy in life, in either world. I feel safe enough with the women. They found me, took care of me, accepted me as one of their own. They’ve been keeping the secret of who I am. I don’t want to risk making it worse by going elsewhere.”
“You don’t want to live with me?”
She gave him a sad smile, stroking the side of his face tenderly.
“Maybe one day. When it’s safer to do so. But not right now. Thesalamandrasof the Sanctuary don’t live with men. Even the king doesn’t bring Zenada into his chambers for longer than it takes him to bed her. She’s never spent a night away from us. If I move in with you, there will be questions, Elex. The king won’t allow it.”
He scoffed. “I’m not afraid of the king.”
He wasn’t going to let anyone stand between Amber and him, be they royalty or the gods themselves.
“But you can’t fight the king on this. If he finds out I exist, it’ll bring trouble to all of us.” She flinched, her eyebrows moving close together. “I’m not sure what he’d do, but it wouldn’t be good. They took a woman from the Sanctuary shortly after I got there. She was the one with the venom in her teeth. She fought ferociously, but they overpowered her, muzzled her, and took her away. Mother said she’d be executed. You see, Elex, King Edkhar eradicates anyone who is different and punishes those close to them. And I am more different than anyone in this world.”
He pressed his forehead to hers, hugging her tightly.
“But how do I keep you safe when you’re not with me?”
“For now, you’ll just have to trust me with my own safety, I guess.”
Eight
AMBER
Ihuddled under the covers. There were probably half a dozen of them on me by now, but I just couldn’t get warm, shivering uncontrollably. The metal cuff on my ankle pulled at my leg. I bent my knee, dragging the cold chain under the covers with me.
When I closed my eyes, Elex’s face was right there on the back of my eyelids. It was either the image of his cheeky smile with one of his dark eyebrows cocked. Or the one with that desperate plea in his eyes.
“I’ll take you back to the human world.”
“I’ll come with you.”
The skin on my arms pebbled with goosebumps at the memory of his words. These weren’t just words, either. I knew he meant what he said when he offered to take me back to the human realm.
Elex had honor. He teased, joked, and flirted without shame, but when he was serious, he didn’t play games. He meant what he said. If I’d told him I wished to leave, I had no doubt he would’ve taken me through the portal. He would’ve stayed with me in the human world, just like he said he would. And I knew he would’ve made every effort to build a life for us there.