Page 56 of The Spark that Ignites (Shattered Soul #1)

“ A gain.” It was the only word Vesper had spoken since arriving at the inn. Really, since they left the cave. The cozy mountain town slumbered outside their window, their room blanketed by the heavy darkness of midnight.

He sat across from her on the mattress, his long legs folded beneath him. Blood spilled from the fresh knife wound and Emmery gritted her teeth, panting, willing her silver threads to stitch it closed for the eighth time.

Dragging his blade with unnecessary force, he sliced his palm, dangerously close to his wrist. Vesper opened his mouth and Emmery grabbed his cold, clammy hand sticky with blood. His eyes flared in surprise.

“If you say ‘again’ one more time, I’m going to smack you,” she snapped. She healed it, wincing at the deep sting and her dwindling vestige cried for relief.

Vesper withdrew from the bed and stared out the fogged window at the thick snow carpeting the ground.

With only one damn room available at this tiny inn, camping not a viable option unless they wanted to freeze to death, and the day’s ride back to Ellynne time they couldn’t afford—they were trapped in this cramped, tense, stifling space together for the night.

Emmery stood on antsy legs as she drew a juvenile sun on the dusty splintered floorboards.

Maybe if she focused hard enough, she could manifest it and cast the storm away.

Licking her chapped lips, she brushed back her tangled mess of hair.

Gods, what she would give for a hot bath.

But tonight was sure to be uncomfortable in numerous ways and her cold, sore body was the least of her worries.

The room, basically a storage closet, had barely enough space for Vesper to lay down lengthwise. A mattress centering the floor was the only furniture aside from a wobbly nightstand, a cracked mirror, and a few hooks to hang their snow sodden clothes.

They locked eyes across the tiny space, and her stomach plummeted.

“Are we going to talk about what happened?” she asked, her voice brittle as she hugged herself.

Vesper worked his armour buckles, studying the floor. “I’d rather not.”

“Well ... I need to.” If she was going to get any rest tonight, they needed to talk this through.

She couldn’t imagine sleeping beside him angry, let alone sleeping beside him at all.

Her heart pounded, cheeks flaming. When they had camped it was different.

Sharing a bed felt intimate—especially one this small. It was something she’d never done.

He hung his armour and shrugged off his damp tunic. “What’s there to talk about?”

Emmery fiddled with the lacings on her damp tunic but with nowhere private to change, she was left squirming under them. “Unless you really thought it was a good idea to play healer after that long ride today, you’re clearly angry.”

Vesper tightened his jaw. “You need to practice.”

“It didn’t feel like practice, Vesper. It felt like punishment.” But for her or him, she wasn’t sure.

He turned his face away. The moonlight outlined his toned stomach, chest, and the thin dark hair trailing into his trousers.

His scars practically leapt from his pale skin.

Vesper pinched the bridge of his nose. “I really don’t want to discuss this right now.

I’m exhausted.” Eyeing the mattress, he sighed. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Mouth suddenly parched, Emmery jerked her attention from his bare chest to the gap between the bed and wall. “There’s barely any room.”

His gaze softened. “But you’re uncomfortable.”

“I’m fine.” Voice weak, she cleared her throat. “We’re both adults. We can share a bed.”

Vesper studied the lion scarring his hand. “I sleep naked. I hope that’s alright.” Her eyes widened but he only laughed—a warm, devious sound. “Oh, come on. Lighten up. It was a joke .”

She huffed a breath and squeezed her temples. “Let’s just go to sleep.”

“I swear to the gods, I’ll keep to my side.

” He held up his hands in surrender, but it didn’t calm her, and Emmery gnawed her cheek.

“You’re safe with me, you know that, right?

I won’t touch you ... unless you ask me to of course.

” He winked but she couldn’t meet his playful gaze, suddenly fascinated by the dirty floor.

Fingering her wet tunic, she asked, “Can you turn around? I need to change.”

He gave her his back. “You got it.”

Peeling off her wet clothes, her clammy skin hot and cold from the freezing temperatures, she tugged on a tunic and soft trousers before hanging the garments on a nearby hook and praying they would dry by morning.

The damp room didn’t provide any guarantees of warmth and to her dismay, there was no hearth.

“Done,” she mumbled, crawling under the quilt.

Vesper unbuttoned his trousers and yanked them down. Emmery yelped, covering her face with her hands but she got an eyeful of his shorts.

“ Gods , Vesper—” she choked through her fingers. “Have some modesty!”

“You can look if you want,” he offered, grinning like a mischievous child. “I’m not shy.”

“Apparently,” she hissed. Emmery counted ten breaths before removing her hands.

The dark cotton trousers hung low on his hips as he kneeled on the bed and Emmery pulled the quilt over her face.

She could have died right there. What in the world was wrong with her?

Sure, Vesper was attractive, but she had never thought of him in that way.

Perhaps it was that shameful loneliness in her heart mocking her.

His hand caressed her shoulder. “I’m teasing you.”

She glowered at him. “Would you stop?”

A grin. “It’s so much fun though. I didn’t know you were so opposed to nudity.”

“Get in bed and be quiet,” she grumbled. When that wicked glimmer reappeared in his eye, she held up a finger. “You’re sick, you know that?”

He mimed zipping his mouth and slipped under the covers.

The quiet weighed on her as they lay there. His body heat filled the fraction of space between them, joined by his calm, earthy scent, and layered with the palpable tension from earlier. Gods help her. Emmery sighed, opening her big, fat mouth.

“Are you going to forgive me?” she whispered into the darkness. “Or do I need to beg?”

“You didn’t listen to me again , Emmery, and you put us both in danger.” His voice was rough, weighed down by fatigue. “Some grovelling would be fitting. At least an apology.”

“I’m sorry I put us in danger,” she murmured, “but I don’t regret it.”

Vesper released a long, exasperated breath. “I guess that’s all I’m going to get?” He rolled onto his back, his fingers drumming on his chest as silence swelled. “Do you think I’m terrible?” Vesper studied the ceiling, his brows creased in thought.

“What do you mean ‘terrible’?”

“My father ... what he did.” He swallowed, turning his head to face her. “You know I wouldn’t have done that, right?”

Emmery studied him for a long stretch. “I know you have a big heart, Vesper. That’s why I don’t understand your actions today.”

“I don’t know either. And honestly,” he pulled his mouth to the side, “I’m glad you had the guts to free him. Besides the chaos you likely unleashed, Arborius didn’t deserve that fate.”

It was a snap judgement, like when she had freed Aera and provided their fair share of headaches. Hopefully, this wouldn’t bring the same results.

He stilled, his eyes squeezing shut. “I’m angry I couldn’t do it.

Couldn’t think past the risks.” Like before when she had burned him at the Skyborne Temple, he manipulated this situation to blame himself.

Maybe he was punishing himself earlier. He certainly had a knack for finding a way to make himself the villain.

Her bones rattled as she shivered.

“Are you cold?” Vesper asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Emmery grumbled, “I’m fine.” Though she squirmed a bit closer to his warmth.

The bed shifted as he rolled and cocooned her in his arms. “Is this alright? You can tell me to piss off.”

Emmery nodded in the dark.

Apparently, all was forgiven, at least for now.

Vesper’s body was a rigid, warm solace. His arms banding her waist, hand splayed on her stomach, and breath tickling her neck was oddly comforting, like they’d done it before. But other than that night after summoning Maela, they hadn’t gotten close like this. It stopped her shaking.

Vesper removed his arms and took her hair into his hands.

Her breath seized and she threw over her shoulder, “What are you doing?”

“It’s tangled and will never dry like this.

” He meticulously ran his fingers through the knots and her eyes fluttered shut, lips parting, as she leaned into his gentle hands.

How long had it been since she’d let anyone touch her like this?

She couldn’t remember other than her mother tending to her hair.

But she was only a child then. Had it been that long?

When Emmery braided Maela’s hair, it was an act of love—affectionate in the only way she knew how. Is that what this was? She was overthinking it. She had to be.

Once Vesper finished, he laid the damp strands against the pillow and held her again.

“Thank you,” she murmured. She sank into his body, grateful for that connection—the comfort from another living being she didn’t know was missing.

His heart thumped against her back as he tucked her head under his chin. “Don’t worry about it.”

Silence stretched with his long, even breaths but her mind raced, and she couldn’t calm it to find sleep. She needed a damn drink.

“I need to ask something,” he said, his rough voice rumbling through her body.

Her stomach sank and she waited on bated breath.

“At the cave, you mentioned you...” Vesper swallowed, breaching the subject carefully. “I assumed you weren’t talking about the beggar woman.”

She worried her bottom lip. “It’s a long story. And not a nice one.”