SOREN
I hadn't expected it.
Her voice had been quiet, almost reluctant, but I'd heard it all the same. Thank you.
The words clung to me long after she walked away. Eris never said things like that, as far as I knew it, not to me, not to anyone. For a woman the world called heartless, her gratitude sounded like a confession.
And yet it left me unsatisfied. Flattered, yes, but aching all the same.
I remembered her the way she had burned. Fire bleeding from every inch of her, flames so wild the air itself seemed to scream. Even then, the heat hadn't been enough to melt me. My frost never faltered. But the look in her eyes… I couldn't forget that.
Tears had rimmed them, never falling, never given the chance. They evaporated before they could touch her cheeks. That image had burned deeper into me than the fire itself.
And then there was the moment I reached her hand.
