Page 64 of The Spark that Ignites (Shattered Soul #1)

T he stars cradled her, the full moon winked to life, and yet the knot in Emmery’s chest sustained.

The Divide embraced her tonight, and she hadn’t dreamed but merely opened her eyes there.

Her dress mirrored the night sky, all eternal darkness and smattering bursts of light, her shoulders bare except for the dainty straps and long billowy skirts.

She studied the inky ripples at her feet.

“Emmery? You’re—you’re really here.” An inconsolable note laced his tone and Shade’s voice reached for her with an invisible hand. “I missed you. I missed you so much.”

She spun and her heart inflated.

His black misty silhouette offset the backdrop of stars stretching to kiss him.

A sob rose in her throat as she drank him in.

Oh gods, she’d missed him too. He brought her calm like no one else and quieted that roaring in her mind.

She hadn’t seen him since the night he came for her too late.

Hurt soured in her chest. Why hadn’t he been here?

Had all this been too much and he decided she was no longer worth it?

“Where have you been?” Her throat burned with tears. “I needed you, Shade. I needed you and you weren’t here. The last few days have been ... bad.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice snagged. “I couldn’t cross into your dreams. Something happened.” His jaw hardened. “I need you to listen. I don’t know how much time I have.”

The frantic spark in his stare made her pulse race. “What is it? What’s happening?”

“I need you to find me,” he said. “I don’t know what’s happened, but I need you to find me.” His green eyes flared, the urgency rising. “You need to wake me.”

“Wake you up? What do you mean?” She shook her head, her unbound hair catching in her lashes. “What’s going on? Are you in trouble?”

“Please, Emmery.” His shaken voice faded already, misting into the night. “I don’t have much time, and I can’t explain it. This is all I know. That's all I remember. I need you to remember this when you wake. To remember me. You’re the only one who can do it. I need you.”

“I don't—I don’t know how to find you, Shade—” Her voice broke on his name. Hopelessly, helplessly, her eyes clouded with tears.

He was all she ever wanted, and she would give anything to find him, but there was no path to him. No guide to lead her into his arms.

But then Shade cupped her cheeks, and she forgot how to breathe.

She could feel him. Really feel him—his fingers against her face, the caress of his breath on her lips, the warmth radiating off his body. Emmery’s skin pebbled, her blood heating and every nerve in her body lit up like a starry night sky.

He smiled wistfully, circled her waist and tugged her to his solid body.

His gaze overflowed with so much tormented longing and unending love her heart stumbled.

He traced her birthmark, down her cheek to her mouth.

His thumb skimmed her bottom lip like it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“I can’t believe it. Am I dreaming? It’s like ... you’re here. You feel ... perfect.” His eyes sparked with playfulness despite the dire circumstances. He dipped his head, his sultry voice low. “Maybe I can convince you to remember me.”

Shade tilted her head back and his eyes ensnared hers. Those green eyes she loved so much. The ones that held home inside them.

He traced his nose along hers, prolonging that exquisite moment where only a sliver of space separated them.

And his lips found hers.

The kiss was soft, but her entire world narrowed on that touch.

He tasted of freshly fallen snow—a hint of magic laced within.

Emmery sank into him, melting, consuming, and she burned alive.

A kindled fire in a dark room. The brightest star in the sky.

A flicker of an ember promising to burn bright.

She sighed against his lips and like he had waited his entire life for this moment, he answered with a pained groan filled with endless nights of saving her and craving her touch.

Her heart battered her ribs, singing the words she knew to be true—she loved him.

This couldn't be a dream.

No, he felt too real. His body, his mouth, his tongue as he gently parted her lips.

The kiss spiralled into a frenzied need as his hand tangled in her hair, his body flawlessly moulding to hers.

She melted for him. And gods, she craved him as the desert craved rain. As flowers stretched for the sun. As the sun chased the moon.

Shade’s hands skated down her back, his fingers teasing her exposed skin, memorizing the curve of her spine, and he gripped her thighs, hauling her up with ease as if she were weightless. Her legs wrapped around his waist. She gasped, her heart leaping from her chest and body flushing.

And he was everywhere, saturating her senses, his delicious smell, his incomparable taste, and his kind heart she held in her hands. His lips traced hers, like he could capture this kiss and put it in his pocket to savour. To never forget.

Emmery kissed him without regret, without hesitation, without abandon—surrendering herself to him. If he’d asked, she would have torn her heart from her chest. And in a way, she already had. Because it was and had always been his.

Something solidified in her mind, igniting something within her, the permanency of it promising she would find him even if it took a year or three hundred years, or forever.

Somehow in the hollow parts of her, she knew they belonged to one another.

Shade pulled back, his laboured breath stoking the fire in her blood.

He whispered against her lips, “I would save you from a million nightmares, chase all your terrors away, and never wake again, if it meant I could dream just one more dream with you, Emmery.” But then the dream slipped away, and her feet met the ground as this strange reality frayed.

No. Her heart ached. She didn’t want this to end. And he had made a vow to her.

“You promised you wouldn’t leave,” she said, her voice catching. “You promised.”

Placing a hand over his heart, his lips moved with no sound. His eyes widened and he clutched his throat. The word ‘until’ was all she could make out. His body faded into the backdrop of the night sky and Shade vanished—dark mist floating on the breeze.

Her voice whisked into the Divide as she begged him to come back—her heart stolen as if he took it with him.

EMMERY WOKE IN THE night, a strange calm settling in her chest and she stared into the darkness. Her mind raced, searched, and found. The fragmented memories hit her like a flash storm.

Shade. The kiss. Her promise.

Pieces of dreams before. Dancing and laughing and talking.

She lay in bed, blinking rapidly. But it couldn’t possibly be anything more than a series of dreams, right? It had felt so real, he felt so real—

She flitted restlessly, sleep no longer within reach. Emmery rose from bed and searched her bookshelf for a novel to pass the time until sunrise. She knew the titles like the back of her hand and after staring in a sleepy daze, she wandered into Vesper’s room.

It felt cold, his warm presence stolen from this castle. Strewn papers in large messy lettering covered his desk, important documents he had cast aside. She made a mental note to sift through them later. A few books sat on his desk, covered in thick dust.

Except one.

It lodged something loose in her chest. The black binding, the smooth leather, and the tiny tear in the spine. It was the book Fionn had given her.

The nameless book.

But it couldn’t be.

She had lost it all those years ago. And why would Vesper have it?

With shaky hands, she pulled it from the desk, the cover buttery soft against her fingertips. Her copy contained a message inked into the inside cover in the same careful, cursive the novel was written. Slowly, she cracked open the book.

Her heart skipped. It was hers. Inside was the same message inscribed on her ring. And the same words Shade had said before he faded away.

Until my last breath, I will wait.

IN THE CASTLE DUNGEON , Emmery gazed vacantly at the table and the items stared back, awaiting her choice. As if she hadn’t been anxious enough, she waited moments before midnight on the Fallen Equinox. There was nothing quite like the strain of time to spur action.

Vesper insisted on keeping all the items locked down here so maybe he had been onto her all along. He’d done everything in his power to make sure this went according to plan.

Everything except stay alive.

Her mind wandered back to her book. Why had it been on his desk? She wanted some damn answers. She’d told him about it so maybe he tracked it down as a gift?

But she gave her head a shake. She needed to focus.

The hollow bones, porous stones, and bottled blood of the innocent lay across the sheet. She meticulously checked the instructions, but her attention tore between Maela’s note and a scrap of her tunic soaked in Vesper’s blood. They lay on the table—her heart with them.

This was impossible.

But she made her choice and folded the sheet, placing the amulet atop. She knelt, the celestial trumpet and dragon’s essence clutched in her hands.

Checking the instructions one final time to ensure this would happen without fail, she reminded herself she had one shot. One single time to get this right. She wouldn’t fuck it up.

The words felt clumsy in her mouth, tumbling out in a foreign tongue. No matter how many times she rehearsed, the words didn’t feel real.

This was like a strange dream—some horrible night terror she couldn’t wake from.

The air heated as she spoke, strands of her hair lifting in a phantom breeze. She rocked the celestial trumpet, and its bitter melody laced the air. The flower withered and scattered into fragments.

“Vesper Merikh,” she breathed. “I call forth your soul from where it is caught.”

A bright light formed, like Kahlia herself was present—a star fallen straight from the sky into her hands.

Emmery reached out a single finger, guiding the light into the amulet.

It glowed the same colour as Vesper’s eyes.

The ethereal white of whatever was beyond this life—the Hollow, reincarnation, or the space between both.

As she uncorked the dragon’s breath, it spread like wildfire, igniting the sheet in a white flame. Light blasted and she shielded her eyes. Hot air unfurled in the cold, dark room.

Emmery fought back the sting of tears as she waited on bated breath. Her heart thumped. Dum-dum. Dum-dum. The heat extinguished until the damp cold soaked her bones once more.

Cracking an eyelid, the heaviness of it all sat on her shoulders.

Below the sheet, a chest inflated with breath. The amulet had shattered, the skull a mess of metal fragments and black goo.

If this failed, if she failed again, there would be no other chance.

She begged the gods, called upon all their names—both Kenna and mortal. Please .

Hand trembling, she withdrew the sheet, unveiling the hidden body.

Slowly, his eyes opened, his head gingerly rolling to the side. He studied her, his brows pulling together in confusion. They both watched each other for a tense moment—a symphony of emotions crossing Vesper’s face. Then he looked at the shattered remains of the items.

Emmery launched herself, wrapping her arms around his bare chest and pressed her face into his neck. She didn’t care he was naked. She’d missed him so damn much. He smelled the same as he always did—earthy and steady and so very Vesper.

His body stiffened, his arms locked at his side as she clung to him like a lifeline. But he was here, and he was solid and warm.

And most importantly, he was alive .

She did it. She had actually done it.

His head shook and he sat up, brushing her aside like she was a bloodsucking insect. His words stabbed a freezing knife into her gut.

A cold question. Betrayal.

Vesper looked her dead in the eye and uttered with anguish, “How could you?”