Page 49 of A Fate in Flames

But I wasn’t.

I slammed the door, spinning on my heel toward the bed—and there he was.

Theo.

“Theo!”His name ripped from my throat, part desperate cry, part broken prayer.

Time fractured in that moment.One heartbeat, he was across the room, the next, I was running.My vision blurred, hot tears spilling as I launched forward.He stood there, arms open wide, his own eyes welling with moisture as I crashed into him.

The force sent him stumbling, but he caught me effortlessly, wrapping his arms around me with enough strength that it hurt to inhale.

I buried my face into hist chest, my tears falling like rain, soaking into the pale fabric draped over his shoulder.

“I thought… I thought I wouldn’t see you again,” I managed, the words tumbling out between ragged breaths.“It drove me insane to think I brought you here and that… if anything happened to you…” My voice completely broke.“Shit.I… I’m so sorry, Theo.”

The fear of what of what could’ve been unravelled—the overwhelming guilt that had suffocated me these past weeks poured out with my tears.

“Shh, it’s okay El,” he whispered into my hair, his warm breath tickling my scalp.“I’m okay.You’re okay.”The tremor in his words betrayed that he was only just keeping it together.

I pulled back enough to look at his face properly in the dim light.Beyond the dark shadows under his amber eyes, there were no visible marks on him.At least, none that I could see.

Relief crashed over me in waves as I pulled him close again, clutching him tightly as if he might disappear.“I missed you so much.”

He pressed his chin atop my head, sighing dramatically.“I would miss me too.I’m extremelymiss-able”

A choked laugh escaped me, tangled with the lingering remains of my sobs.Even after everything we had been through—after whatever horrors he had faced, he still found a way to be himself.Unshaken, unbothered.Still impossibly, infuriatingly Theo.

I pushed back just enough to glare up at him through damp lashes, my sniffling laugh breaking out in the most unattractive way possible.“Asshole.”

I stepped away from him, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hand.

The expression on his face was pure, unfiltered amusement.Not at the sight of my red face and puffy eyes.No.At the fabric clinging to my body.My hands froze mid-wipe as his familiar grin stretched across his face.

“Really,Theo?”I shoved his shoulder, crinkling my nose in disgust but secretly welcoming his usual teasing.

Truthfully, I had missed our back and forth.Our constant need to irritate the hell out of each other.It felt like coming home in a way that physical walls never could.

“I mean—” he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck before gesturing with a sweeping motion from the top of my head down to my toes.“—woah.Just…woah”

“This is how they dress apparently,” I muttered, clutching at the fabric, trying to make the revealing cuts less obvious.

“I can’t wait to seethat.” His tone was laced with far too much enjoyment.

I narrowed my eyes until they were practically slits, but he only laughed, the sound warming something cold inside me.

He took a seat at the edge of the bed.

“So, you weren’t there tonight?”I asked, steering the conversation back to more important matters.

He shook his head, bracing his elbows against his thighs.His shoulders slumped forward as I settled beside him and told himeverything.

The second I mentioned the way the king had looked at me—white-knuckle grip and all—Theo’s reaction was immediate.

“I don’t like him,” he declared, shooting up from the bed.

“Of course you don’t.”

He began to pace the room.“Who does he think he is?”