Recent content by Esper

Esper studied him with a soft, almost timid earnestness, testing the shape of his name on her tongue. “Just Gerra, then…” Her voice lifted at the end, seeking his approval. She leaned into his vast hand as it cupped her cheek, her skin warming beneath his palm. Her lashes lowered, then lifted...

Esper curled into him the moment his arm settled around her. Her slender frame fit against his side as though the hollow had been carved for her alone. She did not try to hide how desperately she soaked in his warmth. She had been denied it too long, starved of touch and safety and fire. Now...

Esper’s fingers brushed across his open palm, light, tentative, curious, her touch a whisper of warmth against the hardened landscape of his skin. She traced the lines there as though they were roads through his past, but when his hand closed into a fist she let hers fall back, folding it into...

Esper listened the way ancient things do; silently, wholly, with the patience of something that has watched forests grow and die. Stories were lifeblood to her people, and his was exceptional. As he spoke, the tide of his emotions washed through her in waves, grief sharp as flint, shame like a...

Esper’s gaze lifted slowly, doubtful at first, like a creature uncertain whether the hand extended would soothe or strike. Come here. The command slid through her like a hook beneath the ribs, subtle yet irresistible. Her body answered before her mind did, drawn to him not solely by obedience...

Esper’s slender brows drew together, a small frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. Skeletons? She wondered what he meant, though she was not sure she wanted to know. The discomfort she felt from him was unmistakable as he asked his question. It made her shift, made her realise how closely...

The world lurched. Her breath caught sharp in her throat, muscles going taut as old instinct screamed danger, hands that lifted her had often thrown her, struck her, pinned her. For a heartbeat her body was all fire and fear, but once again, no pain followed. Only height. Only wind. Only his...

Her brows pinched as his hand slipped from her back, she followed the movement unconsciously, like something warm had been taken away before she’d fully learned to appreciate it. “You killed them,” she murmured, “The source.” Not accusation, only recognition. A conclusion drawn without...

Esper cleared her throat, the flames at her fingertips sputtering out like candles beneath a sudden wind. She felt his amusement, the kernel of approval she hadn't known she needed. It steadied her. Her gaze dropped when he questioned her. Guilt tugged her shoulders downward. "I don't know,"...

She had only a little further when agony lanced through her. Her breath tore from her throat in a strangled gasp as white-hot pain exploded down her arm first, then another, then another, sinking into her stomach with brutal force. Her knees buckled. She folded over herself, clutching her...

She flinched violently when he rose, shoulders snapping up in defense, like a creature expecting a blow. She dared to look up at him just long enough to see the fire in his eyes. Not passion. Not the righteous fury he had turned against Malephis. But revulsion. Hatred so sharp she felt it slice...

She flinched at the sharpness in his voice. It wasn’t loud, but it struck with enough force that her shoulders tightened, her gaze dropping to the stew she suddenly couldn’t stomach. Her fingers curled into trembling fists beneath the table, her body bracing for pain that rationally she doubted...

She remained mostly silent through the journey, too drained to do much more than endure. Even the short passage by boat had hollowed her out even more; the moment the vessel rocked free of shore she lurched to the side and retched until her throat burned. Afterward she walked close to him, as...

Esper let out a breath that felt almost like laughter there was so much relief in it. That there was the option of a portal stone to another land made the blackened horizon seem suddenly less like a prison. If she ever set foot on a boat again it would be too soon. Then, he gave her a choice...

Esper stiffened at the touch of his hand, the instinctive flinch betraying the reflex carved deep into her bones. But she caught herself, breath trembling as she looked up at him through the fall of her hair. Whatever she saw in his face seemed to quiet that fear, and she gave a small, guilty...