Mirror of Embers (Book 1)

s i x t e e n

❄ Royal ❄

THE BRIGHT SUN FROM THE WINDOWS BURNS MY EYES. I slam my eyes shut and groan into my pillow. Gods why is it so bright? I roll over and stare out the window. I can see a large bird sitting on top of a large branch. If I had gotten less sleep I would've shot the bird with ice and froze it to death. But, last night was the best I've ever slept in a long while. Holding Ember in my arms last night had sent aches through my heart. I hadn't been that intimate with someone since Serena. I never thought I'd be able to actually enjoy sleeping with someone ever again. Last night was amazing. It felt right telling Ember everything. Well, not everything. Gods, I still need to tell her who I am. I can't though. Not right now. I want to soak up as much time as possible with her. I just want to spend the rest of the morning with her. I want to listen to her beautiful voice make fun of me. I want her full lips to kiss me and tell me such amazing lies. I want her arms around me. That's all I want. But, I know we can't do that. We have a mission to complete. Ugh. I really wish we didn't have to save Eden right now. I just want to spend the day with my girl and not give a fuck about everything else.

I know we just started our new relationship yesterday, but I can't seem to get enough of her. Just lying next to her in the bed last night was intoxicating. She's like my own personal drug. I want to be high off of Ember Ryvergrave all day everyday. I was so mad at myself last night, I told her I wanted to take things slow. I still meant them. But it didn't help the ache in my chest and . . . lower. I cursed myself the entire night. Me and my stupid bad thoughts. Thoughts that would have ruined everything last night. The only thing that helped me was telling myself I needed to do it. I couldn't have a relationship like my last one. Not Ember. We weren't going to do that. We are going to take things slow and let our relationship grow. We have too. I won't lose Ember the way I lost Serena. I refuse. It is not going to happen. You can count on that. But I know that won't happen. Ember isn't her. I really need to stop comparing our relationships. Especially considering that Ember and I just started everything last night.

I hadn't expected Ember to open up to me like that last night. I didn't know I was going to tell her about Serena. It just all sort of happened. I'm glad I did. Ember was kind and compassionate. She listened and didn't interrupt once. She listened to my story. She didn't judge nor ridicule. She told me it wasn't my fault. I don't know how much I believe her, but she was the first to ever say that to me. She was the first to comfort and console. None of my family did that. Well, I didn't want their comfort anyway, but it would've been nice for them to acknowledge that I did nothing wrong.

I didn't expect much from my family. Especially my cousin. Sick son of a bitch. I haven't seen him since that blow out happened. I don't want to see him. He'd be dead the minute I laid eyes on him. Unfortunately, I cannot lay any fingers on him. He's the golden boy, and heir to his family. I kill him and his parents would quite literally kill me. Doesn't matter if we're related or not. Doesn't matter though. I never want to see him anyway. I don't need anyone.

Except for Ember.

I reach out in bed, hoping to hold onto her. To remind myself she's here, and she's not going anywhere. I reach and find nothing but a cold bed. I roll over, the bed is empty and her spot is cold. I sit upright. I look around the room. No sign of her seems to be here. My mind starts whirling. What if something happened? What if she never came back to the room last night? What if she was taken?

No, she's fine. Stop it. Ember is a highly trained assassin. She has the strongest Bound I have ever seen. She is more than capable of taking care of herself. I know that. I just need to take a deep breath. I need to calm the fuck down, because everything is alright. Everything has to be alright.

I take a lungful of air and force it down. Breathing in deeply. I start counting to ten and then back down to one. My heart is slowly returning to its natural steady beat. I take one more deep breath and push the covers off of me. She could be in the bathroom. She could be bathing or doing her hair or getting dressed. She's fine. I'm overreacting.