There was a stillness after that as if the wind had stopped to listen.In Dancing Fire, I found safety, respect, and friendship.I admired his unwavering strength, quiet kindness, and the way he saw me not as broken but as whole.
And yet… as the flames crackled between us, I felt the ache that never faded.Amir’s memory burned as brightly as this fire, etched into my soul like ink that could never be washed away.His love had marked me and shaped me.It was something no distance, no time, could unravel.
“I will always belong to Amir,” I whispered, voice nearly lost in the night, a confession meant only for the stars and the shadows—a vow, still binding, still true.
But when I glanced at Dancing Fire, something flickered in his gaze.Something unreadable.His eyes didn’t waver, didn’t pull away.They held mine, intense, filled with something I hadn’t dared to consider.Had I been wrong about what lived between us?Had I been blind to something more?
My heart stumbled, uncertain.I looked away; the fire suddenly felt too warm, and the air hung unnaturally still.Whatever had begun to take root in the silence between us, I wasn’t ready to name it.
Not when part of me still lived with a man I could never forget.
ChapterTwenty-Six
AMIR
The air was thick with dust and sweat as I lunged forward, my blade cleaving through the dim haze of the training room buried deep within the underground palace.Each clash of steel rang out like thunder in the darkness, echoing off ancient stone walls that seemed to close in tighter with every passing day.This place was no sanctuary—it was a tomb where I buried my grief, one strike at a time.
Pain tore through my arm as my opponent landed a punishing blow, but I ignored it.I welcomed it.The pain was better than the numbness.With a guttural snarl, I pivoted and drove him back, my sword a blur of rage and discipline.Sweat stung my eyes, and my muscles screamed, but I didn’t stop.I couldn’t stop.
Because if I stopped, I’d remember her.
The one thing I couldn’t bury, even in the darkest parts of myself.
She wandered into the forest like she was chasing something she couldn’t name.
But it was me.I kept my distance, barely glimpsing her.But I was there.
She didn’t know it—couldn’t know it.
She thought I was dead.
And still… she felt me.
Drawn to the silence between the trees, to the weight of my aura pressing through the branches like a ghost.
She lingered there, standing too long in the shadows, turning as if she might catch a hint of something not meant to be seen.
It wrecked me.
To be so close—to see the way her breath hitched, her arms wrapped tighter around herself like she sensed me there.
And I couldn’t go to her.
Couldn’t speak.
Couldn’t reach for her.
Not even when her eyes filled with tears and she looked straight through the place where I stood.
She didn’t know she was breaking me.
But gods…
She did.
Just by feeling me.
And I almost stepped out.Almost gave in.
