Page 7 of Tower of Ash and Darkness (Tower of Ash #1)

Then, the barest graze of his knuckles against my cheek—a touch so fleeting, yet it unravels me. Heat blooms where his skin meets mine, the sensation electric, crackling through me like the first spark to dry kindling. The contact is light, barely there, but it destroys me.

I freeze, every nerve alight.

It’s too much . Too close.

But I don’t pull away.

I can’t .

His fingers should have fallen away by now, but they hover—just barely, just enough to keep me suspended in the space between one breath and the next. I can feel his warmth sinking deeper, slipping into the marrow of my bones.

“Lailah!”

Sera’s voice cuts through the air, and the spell shatters.

I flinch, ripping my gaze away from him, my heart still pounding . Sera stands a few feet away, laughing, her eyes darting between me and Casper with wicked delight. She lifts her hand, rubbing at her cheek, mimicking the way his knuckles had touched mine. Her smile tugs wider, teasing, knowing.

My stomach knots tighter. My face is burning.

Sera twirls away, humming under her breath, leaving me alone in the wreckage of what just passed.

I turn back to him. He is still watching me .

And gods, his presence— his presence is too much .

The weight of his stare settles into me, curling around my throat. I can’t breathe right. I can’t think .

“Lailah, is it?”

His voice is soft, yet edged with something that makes my skin prickle.

Like he already knows me. Like he’s only confirming what he’s always known.

I tighten my jaw, fighting to regain control, to ground myself, but the chasm is still shrinking— or maybe it was never there at all . His gaze searches mine, dark and consuming, pulling apart every last thread of my resolve. He looks at me like I belong to him.

He leans in, just slightly. Barely an inch. But I feel it.

He brushes against my skin, charged and electric, and my body reacts before my mind can stop it.

Then—he hums.

A quiet, satisfied sound, approving .

It shakes something deep inside me.

My pulse is a frantic rhythm beneath my skin, each beat screaming at me to move, to breathe, to do something . But I just stand there. Overwhelmed. Undone. Shuddering as I try to hold myself together.

“I have to go.”

The words barely escape my lips, more breath than sound. But he hears them. I know he does.

The faintest flicker of something crosses his face—something just out of reach, gone as quickly as it came. His stillness unsettles me.

I take a step back, my fingers curled into my palms.

Then another. And then, I turn.

As I walk toward Sera, I feel his eyes on me, burning into my back, his presence still lingering, almost suffocating, as I make my way across the room. I reach Sera, my heart still pounding, and without a word, she grabs my hand and twirls me around. Her carefree energy pulls me in instantly.

“Well, look at you,” she teases, her laughter light. I roll my eyes, trying to play it off.

“Shut up,” I mutter.

She giggles and twirls within my embrace, clearly amused.

“He looked like he tasted delicious,” she says, glancing over her shoulder with a sly smile.

I shake my head. “I think we’re more his taste than he is ours,” I reply, keeping my voice light. Sera pulls her brows together, processing my words. Then, her eyes widen as realization hits.

“He’s a vampire?”

I press a finger to my lips, shushing her. “Don’t say that out loud,” I warn, but she’s already slipped her arm through mine, her grin widening.

“Good for you.”

“Stop it,” I reply, trying to stay composed as the heat rises in my cheeks.

Sera grins, unbothered.

“I’d let any male, or vampire, who looks like that take a bite,” she says, her tone playful, but a little too serious for my liking.

I roll my eyes again, the flush in my cheeks deepening. As we walk toward the entrance of the tavern, I can’t help but feel her eyes on me.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it?” she asks, placing her arm around my shoulders.

I glance at her, not sure how to answer.

“Sera,” I start, but my voice is already quieter, a little too caught off guard by her words.

She laughs, nudging me as we step outside. “You know you’re lying, right?”

As we step into the cool night air, the sounds of the tavern fade, but the tension still clings to me. I can feel it, like a stone on my chest, and it won’t let go.

Beside me, Sera remains blissfully unaware of my unraveling, her voice light and carefree as she chatters on, filling the night with laughter. She swings her arms with an ease I envy, as if the night is nothing more than another adventure.

Then, without warning, she turns to me, her devious grin sharp in the moonlight. “Still thinking about him?”

I shake my head, but even I can feel how thin the lie is.

“No,” I say, but my voice betrays me, cracking slightly.

The truth is, I can't stop thinking about him. His eyes. His touch. The way his gaze seemed to swallow me whole. But I can’t say that to Sera, not now.

Sera doesn’t buy it for a second. She grins, nudging me playfully. “Liar.”

I force a half-hearted smile. I lie again, my pace quickening as we near the castle gates, desperate for the safety of its walls.

But even at a good distance from the tavern, the feeling doesn’t go away.

The heavy pull of his gaze lingers on my skin, almost suffocating, as though it’s branded into me.

I glance over my shoulder, half-expecting to see him standing in the darkness, watching. But there’s nothing—only the empty street behind us. I quicken my steps, Sera laughing and chatting ahead of me.

By the time we reach the gates of the castle, I’m almost running, my breath coming a little faster than usual. I push open the garden gates, the familiar stone walls offering me some semblance of security, but it doesn’t ease the discomfort twisting inside me.

The gate closes behind us, and for a moment, the world feels a little lighter.

But even in the quiet of the castle, the echo of his presence lingers.

It follows me like a shadow, always just out of sight but never far enough away.

I close my eyes, feeling the cool air of the castle grounds against my skin, and wonder if I’ll ever be able to forget the way he looked at me, the way he made me feel.

But deep down, I know it’s something I have always wanted to feel. Seen.