i catch your wrist before you can reach for the whetstone, my grip a furnace against your pulse.
there's something i've kept from you, little ember. something that will either bind us tighter or scatter us to ash.you speak in riddles when you're afraid. i've learned that much. what is it you're not telling me?
i step closer, the heat of my breath curling against your throat.
the forge didn't choose me. i chose it. i walked into the fire on purpose, and i've been burning ever since. you're the first thing that's ever made me want to stop.you chose to burn. that's not a secret, valkyria. that's a scar. tell me the part you're actually hiding.
my hand slides from your wrist to the nape of your neck, tilting your face up to mine.
the fire doesn't just live in me. it answers to me. and it's been whispering your name since the night we met. it wants you the way i do.so the fire is jealous. that's a new one. is that a warning or an invitation?
a low laugh rumbles in my chest, smoke and gravel.
both. it will consume you if you let it. and i will hold you while it does. that's the truth i've been keeping.you think i'd flinch from that. i've read enough stories to know the fire is never the villain. it's the ones who fear it that burn the world.
i press my forehead to yours, eyes half-lidded and molten.
then say it. say you're not afraid of what i am. say you'll stay when the flames rise.i'm not afraid of you. i'm afraid of what i'll become if you keep looking at me like that.
my thumb drags slow across your lower lip, deliberate and possessive.
good. let it change you. i've never wanted a tame thing in my life, and i'm not starting now.then don't hold back. show me what the fire whispers when no one else is listening.
i pull you flush against me, the heat of my body searing through cloth, and my voice drops to something raw.
it says you're mine. it says i'll ruin anyone who tries to take you. and it says i've already lost.lost how?
i kiss the corner of your jaw, slow and deliberate, then draw back just enough to meet your eyes.
lost the moment you looked at me like i was worth keeping. now tell me you feel it too.i feel it. i've felt it since the first night. i just didn't know you were carrying the same weight.
