‘How?’
He smiled at my question, and for the first time since I met him, I could tell he was nervous. I could feel the anxiety in his mind; hear the thump of his heart.
His heart called to me, and I leaned toward him, the heavy blanket moving away as I reached for his hands and wrapped my hands around his.
“Ilyan?” I asked aloud, loving the way his name felt on my tongue.
“I thought of you, of the vision. I basked in the way you felt in my arms, the smell of your hair. I thought of every vision I had seen in the sight and I knew I was bigger than the pain. I looked beyond it, and I found love.”
Love.
The look in his eyes, the way his magic felt within me, none of it was wild, none of it was scary. Everything about Ilyan was calm. He was love.
He was light.
He wasn’t love simply because I knew he loved me. Because I did know that. Without question, he had proved that to me again and again. No, he was love because I loved him.
I loved him.
“What is beyond your anger, Joclyn? What is your pain hiding?”
I stared at Ilyan as I leaned into him, my hands untangling from his to trail up his shirt and over the skin of his neck.
I held my breath as I touched his face, the soft skin I had never touched before. I ran the pads of my fingers over his eyebrows, his defined cheek bones, and through the hairline of his short cut.
My heart pulsed wildly inside of me as I let my fingers trail over the scruff from a beard I had never seen, prickly and sharp, before dragging to his lips. I froze.
I froze at the sound of my pulse in my ears. I froze at the calm that had overtaken me. I froze at the desire that circled through Ilyan’s mind and the willpower he was exerting to keep it there.
I watched his breathing. I felt the heat of his breath against my fingers, the pulse of his magic hot under his skin.
What was behind the anger?
“Ilyan,” I said again, his eyes opening slowly to me, “you are behind my anger.”
I smiled, my heart thumping even more at the clarity those precious words brought, at the way each syllable formed perfectly. Ilyan’s lips upturned underneath my touch, the skin parting as he kissed the pads of my fingers, the wetness of his lips soft against my skin.
“I always will be,” he whispered as my fingers fell from his lips and I moved closer.
As I kissed him.
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About the Author
Rebecca Ethington is an internationally bestselling author with over 2 million books sold. Her breakout debut, The Imdalind Series, has been featured on bestseller lists since its debut in 2012, and has been cited as “Interesting and Intense” by USA Today’s Happily Ever After Blog.
Rebecca’s imagination weaves vibrant worlds that transport readers into the pages of her books. Her writing has been described as fresh, original, and groundbreaking, with stories that bend genres and create fantastical worlds.
Born and raised under the lights of a stage, Rebecca has written stories by the ghost light, told them in whispers in dark corridors, and never stopped creating within the pages of a notebook.
Find me online
www.rebeccaethington.com
[email protected]
Also by Rebecca Ethington
THE WORLD OF IMDALIND
The Imdalind Series
Kiss of Fire, Imdalind #1
Eyes of Ember, Imdalind #2
Scorched Treachery, Imdalind #3
Soul of Flame, Imdalind #4
Burnt Devotion, Imdalind #5
Brand of Betrayal, Imdalind #6
Dawn of Ash, Imdalind #7
Crown of Cinders, Imdalind #8
Spark of Vengeance, Imdalind #9
Flare of Villainy, Imdalind #10
Imdalind Academy
The Gauntlet, Book One
Rogue Royalty, Book Two
Broken Renegade, Book Three
Reluctant Seer, Book Four
Imdalind Ruby Collection
The complete series, told chronologically, with over 100k in new content
FIND THE FULL COLLECTION HERE
THE OTHER WORLDS
The Phoenix’s Ashes Series
Rise of the Witch, Book One
Fall of the Dragon, Book Two
Flight of the King, Book Three
Flame of the Phoenix, Book Four
Death of the Demon, Book Five
The Through Glass Series
Book One: The Dark
Book Two: The Blue
Book Three: The Rose
Book Four: The Cut
Book Five: The Light
The Through Glass Box Set
BloodBorne Coven Vampires
Blood Matched
Blood Mated
Blood Massacred
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Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery Page 104
