Recent content by Ciana

Ciana jolted, a soft gasp slipping from her as the air beside her rippled and became someone. Then, she saw who it was, and every taut line in her body melted like snow under spring sun. Her shoulders softened, her breath leaving her in a relieved laugh that glimmered through the gold of her...

Ciana’s breath caught as he lifted the mask to his face. It suited him almost too well. It sharpened the angles of his cheekbones, made his cobalt eyes burn brighter, mysterious and wicked all at once. Her lips parted on a soft exhale. “You,” she murmured, stepping closer, fingertips brushing...

Would she ever not get flustered when he whispered things like that? When he called her Sunbeam in that teasing drawl or said things that made her entire face burn red? Unlikely. Ciana suspected she would go to her grave blushing at Galen’s words. She felt the warmth of his breath brush her ear...

The startled squeak that escaped her made her slap a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with horrified amusement. Her shoulders shook as she tried, and utterly failed, to stifle the laugh that bubbled up in her throat. She pressed her forehead against Galen’s chest to muffle the rest of her...

Ciana bit down on her bottom lip, fighting the laugh that threatened to give them away. Changing, tailor. Oh, if only he knew. The absurdity of it nearly made her laugh, but Galen’s raised finger, his quick, wicked glance, and the sound of the tailor’s footsteps just outside the curtain turned...

Ciana truly tried to hold back her laughter, but the moment Galen yelped, a quiet snort escaped her. She pressed her fingertips to her lips, eyes sparkling with amusement as he glared at the tailor as though the poor man had done so on purpose. When the tailor scuttled off, she took a step...

Ciana felt . changed. Lighter somehow. As though some invisible weight had slipped from her shoulders and the world around her shimmered brighter because of it. She couldn’t stop smiling. A soft, secret smile that lingered even when she tried to school her expression. Her hand was in his...

It was as though something inside her had shifted. A switch flipped, quiet and irreversible. The world had changed hue, as though she were seeing it for the first time. The air felt brighter, sharper, alive against her skin. She had spent so long afraid; of the sun, of the world beyond her...

For a long moment, Ciana could only cling to him. The world had gone very still.. or perhaps it was only her heart, struggling to remember its rhythm. She felt as if she’d been caught up in a storm and now drifted in its quiet eye, everything raw and light and trembling. The air shimmered...

Ciana froze, her heart hammering so hard she was certain he’d feel it. His words seemed to hang in the air, heavy and tender all at once. Her breath caught and she looked at him, really looked at him; at the dark hair falling into his eyes, at the warmth in his face, the uncertainty behind his...

Ciana’s breath came quick and shallow, her pulse thrumming like a trapped bird in her chest. Every inch of her skin felt alive, aware of his closeness, of the warmth of his hands, of the soft rasp of his breath against her neck. She had never been touched like this before. Never even imagined...

Ciana’s breath caught as their lips met. For an instant, the world disappeared. There was no room, no air, no light, only him. Only the shock of his warmth and the dizzying flutter of her own heart pounding against her ribs. The kiss was soft at first, searching, tentative then it deepened, and...

Ciana could feel his gaze before she even dared to meet it, like a touch that grazed her skin from across the room. Each time he spoke, something in her chest fluttered violently, her composure threatening to come undone. The way he complimented her made her breath catch, the way his eyes...

Ciana could still feel the sun thrumming in her veins, the residual warmth beneath her skin, every heartbeat felt charged, electric. It was dizzying, and even as Galen pulled her hood up, she couldn’t help but glance toward the light one last time before letting him tug her back toward the...

For a moment, Ciana’s heart sank. The way his eyes widened, the way he repeated the words as though they were completely foreign to him, she was ready to rescue him from his own uncertainty, to tell him never mind, that it had been a foolish notion after all. But then that boyish light broke...