Page 9

9

~ D evin ~

I came back to life on a wave of fire and fury. My vision swam. Pain arced through my chest. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. But I could feel her.

Cleo.

A blaze of golden power—wild, protective, furious —flaring above me like a living shield.

My lashes fluttered. The world sharpened in fragments.

The ship’s hard deck. Light. The scent of sea and ash. The copper sting of blood. And her voice. Clear. Commanding. Righteous.

“Touch him, and I’ll show you what real Starfire looks like.” Her hand gripped my dagger. And her body—gods, her body —was glowing.

A radiant halo of fire licked across her skin, threads of pure light woven through her hair, her fingers, her eyes. The deck shimmered beneath her feet, the golden runes of the Starborn rising to the surface, burned into the wood by her fury.

She stood between me and the crew like a goddess risen from myth. She was protecting me. Me.

A cursed soul bound to death and decay. I should have been terrified. Or ashamed. Instead, I burned. Burned with something deeper than magic. With something alive .

The fae wind-caller took a cautious step back from Cleo’s shining form, his lips pale, his eyes narrowed. He stared at her like she was a weapon pointed at his chest.

Smart man.

I stirred, dragging in a breath that felt like swallowing glass. Cleo turned instantly. “Devin?” she dropped to her knees beside me. “Can you hear me?”

I nodded once. Barely.

Relief flooded her face, chased quickly by worry. “You’re burning up,” she murmured, brushing damp hair from my forehead. “You used too much.”

I tried to sit up. My body disagreed.

Cleo looked around. “We need to get him below.”

“Don’t help him,” someone growled. “You saw what he did—he called those things.”

“ He killed those things,” she snapped. “And if I have to burn this ship down to make that clear, I will.” A bolt of light seemed to shoot randomly into the sky and all but the fae male took a step back.

“I will help him.”

Void take me. The fae leaned over and pulled me to my feet, braced me against his side and half carried me toward our cabin. I wanted to argue, but my legs would not hold me. Cleo was right. I saw her, in danger, and I overreacted, used too much magic too fast. I hadn’t made such a grave mistake since I was a young mage in training.

Cleo followed. None challenged her. Not again. They stepped back, as if some part of them recognized that the girl in fine silver and silk wasn’t a girl anymore. She was something more.

She joined the fae on my opposite side, looping one arm around my waist. I leaned on her heavily, each step like walking through fire. My power was depleted—drained to the bone—but I could feel her magic wrapping around us both, cradling me, bolstering me.

I shouldn’t have leaned into it.

Into her.

But I couldn’t help it.

She was soft strength, firm hands, whispered fury. She didn’t hesitate as she half-dragged me down the narrow stair to our cabin. Didn’t waver as she pushed open the door and lowered me gently onto the narrow bed. She kicked the fae out of the room with a hasty thanks, then turned and shut the door. Locked it. Spun around to face me.

I knew before she spoke that something had changed. I sat up slowly, resting my elbows on my knees, dragging in another breath. “Are you hurt?” She looked unharmed, but I had to know for certain.

“I’m all right.”

“You defended me.”

“Of course.” She sounded offended that I would be shocked. No one helped the Death Mages. Everyone feared us, and rightly so. That a young orphan from the capital would face off with a fae and a ship of sailors to protect a man she barely knew? One who had kidnapped her, seduced her, and left her no choice but to go to the most feared and hated island in all of Lunaterra? She was either half-mad or the most courageous woman I’d ever met. “You threatened to burn half the crew.”

“They were going to hurt you.” Her hands twisted in front of her as if she were nervous or anxious and my heart disintegrated in my chest. It was gone, no longer mine, but hers.

Had the battle frightened her? Did she fear me now? Was that why she remained by the door, staring at me, instead of coming close? Void take it, she might was well know and accept the truth now. I positioned myself carefully on the edge of the bed. Hoped she would move in close. Accept me.

Want me as badly as I wanted her. “I would burn cities for you.”

A pause. Then, quieter, little more than a whisper, “Why?” She came toward me slowly, her eyes still lit with that strange, golden heat.

“Because they were wrong,” I said. “Your parents. The world. Wrong to give you up. Wrong not to want you.”

She swallowed hard, tears gathering in her eyes. “And you do?”

“Yes.”

She stopped just in front of me. Her fingers reached for mine, laced them together. “You were willing to die to protect this ship,” she whispered. “Even though everyone on it hates you. Even though it would’ve been easy to let the sea spirits tear them apart. You didn’t hesitate. You just… gave everything.”

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. And then she knelt in front of me, eyes searching mine.

“You might be a Death Mage, but you’re not the monster I thought you were.”

“No,” I said hoarsely. “But I am a monster.”

She smiled. Slow. Sad. Beautiful. “Apparently, so am I.” The air between us snapped like a live wire. Her fingers slid higher on my arms. Her eyes flicked to my mouth.

And my restraint—thin, frayed, already dying— snapped .

I surged forward, grabbed her by the waist, and hauled her onto my lap.

She gasped—but she didn’t pull away.

Our mouths collided.

There was nothing soft about this kiss. It was raw and desperate and too much, like we were both trying to devour the moment, the fear, the chaos still clinging to our skin.

Her hands tangled in my hair. Mine found the curve of her waist, the hollow of her back, the warm skin beneath the collar of her gown.

She tasted like fire and salt and survival.

I couldn’t stop kissing her.

Didn’t want to.

She straddled me, pressed against me, her breath ragged, her body alight with that golden fire. Every brush of her magic against mine reignited the bond, hotter and fiercer than ever.

This wasn’t just attraction anymore.

This was claiming.

This was need.

We broke apart only long enough to breathe, to press our foreheads together, to let the storm inside us find purchase in touch.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she whispered.

“I thought you’d run.”

“I wanted to.”

“But you didn’t.”

She shook her head. “Because I couldn’t. I’m not afraid anymore. Not of you.”

My heart cracked open.

She brushed a kiss over my jaw, my cheek, my lips. I pulled her toward me, my cock hard and aching. My magic twisted in my veins with a hunger that made the physical a pale shadow. I didn’t feel desire. This was more. And less. Primal. Pure instinct. I needed. The darkness within me reached for her with a ferocity that demanded submission.