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“Ember.” Blair’s voice…

No, not Blair.Ewan. He’s Ewan right now. My Ewan.

Ewan’s voice is rough and strained behind me, and the heat of him washes over my back just before he lays a hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“No.” My voice is just as raspy as his, and I scrub at the tears on my cheeks with the back of my hand as he takes me by the shoulders and turns me to face him.

Ewan curses under his breath when he sees me crying, and moves my hands gently away as he wipes my tears with the pads of his thumbs, curling his hands around my cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I shouldn’t have… this was a terrible—”

“It was wonderful,” I croak. “Thank you. For thinking of it. For asking me to come out here. Just… thank you.”

Before I can think better of it, I throw my arms around his neck. He freezes for a heartbeat before his arms close around me. He lifts me off my feet and pulls me into the solid wall of his chest, and I’ve never felt closer to another person in my whole damn life.

“I believe you,” I say in a strangled whisper. “About us. About being your mate.”

How was it ever a question?

“Kenna,” Ewan rasps, pulling me even closer.

“You’re still sure you want me?”

“There’s not a single doubt in my mind.”

I hiccup a small, wet laugh at the impossibility of it all. “You barely even know me.”

“I know who you are, ember. I know your vibrancy and your passion. I know the softness of you, and all the sharp edges. I see you.”

“But—”

“I don’t know everything about you,” he gently interrupts. “But I want nothing more than the time to learn and know it all.”

My heart is still racing, but something in me settles at the words.

“And are you… alright with it? After everything that happened with Lizzy? Are you alright with the idea of having another mate?”

It’s a question I haven’t been brave enough to ask, but one I need to know the answer to. Ewan’s arms tighten reflexively around me, and he’s silent for a few long moments before he leans back, putting enough space between us so he can meet my gaze.

“I’m more than alright with it. Even if some part of me is always going to love her and miss her,” he admits, eyes darting back and forth across my face like he’s worried how I’ll react.

“I know.”

His eyes stop moving, holding mine with that same burnt-gold intensity that used to scare me.

“I know you’ll always love her,” I tell him, the words coming as easily as the realization did the night he told me about her. “I wouldn’t ever expect otherwise.”

“And you’re… alright with that?”

“Of course I am.”

I mean every word.

Lizzy is a part of him, someone he loved and lost and carries with him still. The time he spent with her was short, yes, but it’s left a mark on his soul that’s made him the person he is today. And there’s no part of me that would ever ask him to be anyone but who he is.

A dragon. My dragon. Flawed and infuriating and wonderful. Broken and healing. Impossible and real.

“I just need to know if there’s enough room left in there for me.” I press my hand to the center of his chest and feel the thundering of his heart beneath it.