Wren never expected her life to change the moment she set foot in the Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College. But everything shifted when she met Liam Mairi. Loving him was effortless, bright, and full of promise. Losing him was shattering.
His dea...
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I'm in love with Wren Blackwell. Gods help me, I've probably been in love with her longer than I've even admitted to myself.
Watching her after the fight with Barlowe, watching her break down, trembling from the darkness that clung to her, was gut-wrenching. It wasn't just the rage in her eyes that shook me, it was the way she looked afterward, like she'd stared into a mirror she didn't want to see. And I wasn't there. I'd left her side, thinking I was protecting Violet, honoring my duty. The guilt has been clawing my stomach raw ever since.
"You can't blame yourself. You were honoring your duty to your wingleader." Deigh's voice cuts into my thoughts, low and steady, as he curls on the balcony outside.
"Fuck duty," I mutter under my breath, brushing my fingers through Wren's wild curls where she sleeps against me. "Not when this is the aftermath. Not when the strongest woman I've ever known is trembling in my arms. Not when the woman I...." I stop, my chest tightening. "....the woman I love is sobbing like she's breaking."
Deigh exhales a slow gust of heat. "Struggle is part of her journey, Liam Mairi. Her signet is unlike anything your quadrant has seen in generations. She cannot grow, cannot succeed, if she does not struggle. She will survive this, and so will you."
He's right. Of course he's right. But knowing it doesn't make it easier.
I wasn't planning to make love to Wren tonight. I'd imagined something else for us, candles, words, a confession spoken before I ever touched her. She deserves more than spontaneity. She deserves more than I can give. But when she looked at me tonight, eyes wild and glassy, trembling like she was about to shatter... something in me couldn't hold back.
And I don't regret it. Gods, I don't regret it. She was breathtaking. She was fire and softness all at once. I've never felt more alive. Never felt more completely content and nervous at the same time.
I don't know what I did to earn this. To live in the same world, breathe the same air, dream under the same stars as her.
I brush a curl from her face, my heart hammering as her hand settles on my bare chest. Our naked bodies are tangled, her warmth a brand against my skin. This is my moment, the one that could change everything. Either she feels the same, or she breaks my heart. My stomach twists with nerves.
"Just tell her how you feel," Deigh rumbles, though there's a faint edge to his tone. "Do not be weak."
"Thanks," I murmur. "Appreciate the pep talk."
"Understand me, Liam Mairi." Deigh's mental voice deepens, serious now. "Wren Blackwell is not merely a rider. Her power is a tempest not yet unchained. She hasn't touched a fraction of her potential. That kind of power will terrify men, and make others hungry to own it. Be careful. Even love can become a blade in the wrong hands."
