Page 218 of A Fate in Flames

The world exploded into white-hot rapture.My body convulsed as waves of pleasure crashed over me.I screamed his name, tearing at his skin with my nails, leaving marks that would mirror the ones he’d left on my soul.

He followed me over the edge with a roar that shook the room.Flames erupted everywhere, scorching the walls as he emptied himself inside me.He held himself above me, arms shaking and face buried in the crook of my neck.

We lay there gasping our bodies still joined—still trembling from the aftershocks.

He pressed soft kisses to my throat, jaw, then temple.“Stay with me,” he murmured between each one.“I want you with me always.”

My heart splintered into a thousand pieces.

Dalkhan held me tight, his warmth sinking into my skin like the last remnants of a dying sun.I traced slow, thoughtless patterns over the ridges of his muscles, each movement a quiet plea to the Heavens—to let time freeze.To let mestay.

His fingers mirrored mine, drifting lightly along the curve of my bare shoulder, so gentle it was more like a memory than a touch.His body began to sink, inch by inch, into the haze of sleep.

I wasn’t ready.Not yet.

I scrambled to come up with something—anything—to keep me here longer.To stay tangled in his arms.

“You never finished your story,” I said loudly, startling him.

His body went rigid.The steady rhythm of his breath fractured.The pause before he spoke was a question in and of itself.

“What story?”

“The one about the Wielders,” I murmured, pressing my palm firmer against the flat of his stomach.“How they stole your power.”

His eyes opened slowly, dark slivers beneath heavy lids.Even drowning in exhaustion, something razor-sharp lurked behind them.

A smirk ghosted his lips, the kind that made my blood run cold.

“You really want to know?”

I nodded.

Anything to keep him talking.Anything to delay what came next.

He adjusted his position, spine finding the carved headboard as dark sheets pooled around his waist.I settled my head against his chest again, my fingers spreading wide across the planes of his torso as if I could somehow hold him together through touch alone.

“I should’ve realised what was happening before it manifested.”His voice was smooth, but beneath it there was something else.Something edged with old scars and quiet rage.He resumed his lazy exploration of my skin, but tension lingered beneath the gentle caress.“But I didn’t.When I look back now, I see the signs as clearly as the stars, but at the time, I was blind to them.”

The muscles in his chest tightened.“They needed someone close to me.Someone whose loyalty I never questioned.”Each word dropped like stone into still water, sending ripples through the charged air between us.

“And they found her.”

The simple statement landed with devastating finality.

“She stood at my side for countless years, whispering poison disguised as devotion.She made me believe her faithfulness was absolute.”

His hands continued their journey across my skin, but his touch had grown cold.His gaze distant, as though watching it unfold all over again.

“She was clever,” he admitted.“I trusted her, though not fully.She hungered for power.Wore her ambition like jewellery.I knew she wanted more than I was willing to give, but I did not see her betrayal coming until it was too late.”

Dread unfurled in my stomach as his story wound deeper, each revelation pulling me further into the labyrinth of his past.

“She helped them.”His voice hardened.“They crafted a spell, one that required a foothold inside my mind.Something insidious enough to weaken the barriers of my power.And she…” His jaw locked with an audible click.“She was their key.”

My mouth went dry.

“She has power over dreams.She held my subconscious prisoner long enough for them to thread their spell into the very fabric of my being, weaving it so seamlessly I never felt it take root.”