Recent content by Saffia

Saffia swallowed, her throat tightening ever so slightly at the word witch. A word spoken so easily, so casually, and yet it held the weight of centuries of fear and fire. It was a word she had heard too often, spat like venom in the streets, screamed in the square as smoke choked the sky and...

Saffia listened in quiet understanding, watching the way his fingers curled slightly against the table, the way his voice wavered just enough to betray the weight of his grief. She had known loss, too—but not like this. Not the kind that left an echo, a hollow space where someone had once been...

Saffia listened, her spoon hovering just above her bowl as he spoke, as that impossible grin of his stretched across his face. It was contagious, that kind of joy—so simple, so genuine. She didn’t think she’d ever known someone like him before. Someone who could carry so much pain yet still find...

The way he said her name like it was something precious... Like it belonged to him just as much as it belonged to her. She wasn’t sure she would ever get used to that. Then, his smile—boyish, unguarded, so full of light that it almost made her forget the shadows that had chased her into his...

Saffia’s lips twitched in the faintest of smiles as Aerium cupped her face, his gaze so steady and kind that it softened the edges of her panic. The warmth of his touch, the gentleness with which he spoke—it settled something inside of her, made her feel safe for the first time in what felt like...

Saffia was still struggling to catch her breath, her heart pounding as she tried to make sense of where she was, of how she had gotten here. She barely registered the fact that she had stepped on something—or someone—until a groan of protest reached her ears. Her wide, panicked eyes snapped...

Saffia slept for hours, lost in the heavy, dreamless void of exhaustion. Her body, battered and drained, had given in completely, sinking into the unfamiliar warmth of a soft bed. The world outside moved on without her, the quiet crackle of a dying fire the only sound to mark the passage of...

Saffia looked up at him, her breath catching as he spoke, as he bared his soul to her with words that wrapped around her like a vow. She had never been someone’s treasure before. Never been cherished the way he spoke of her now. And gods, her heart—how it ached and soared in the same breath...

Saffia’s breath hitched at his words, at the way he held her as though she were something precious, something worth protecting. No one had ever spoken to her like this. No one had ever held her like this. It was dangerous—this warmth, this comfort, this willingness to let herself rest in his...

Saffia hadn’t expected the embrace, and for a moment, she stiffened. Her breath hitched, her body still in shock and reflexively recoiling from touch, from the threat that so often came with it. But Aerium’s arms weren’t threatening. They were steady, protective—a shield against the world that...

Saffia felt his reassurance like a soft blanket, the warmth of his words easing some of the tension in her chest. She hadn’t wanted to think about the bloodstained shirt, about how he must have felt giving it to her, but he didn't press her further, and that kindness was enough to make her heart...

Saffia winced at the mention of General Tarrent. The General’s cruelty and disdain for her people were infamous, a shadow that loomed large over every life it touched. But Aerium seemed so different—so unlike her. His promise rang sincere, and though he bore the title and uniform of an...

Saffia sat quietly as Aerium worked, his hands surprisingly gentle, though still she winced as he patched up her wounds, biting back the soft cries threatening to escape. Her elders were going to be furious, and her scars would remain, but she tried to push those thoughts to the back of her mind...

Saffia clung to him, her body trembling as the pain and a fresh wave of panic set in as she felt the blood soaking into her torn clothes, her skin slick and glistening with it. She didn’t dare look at her wounds for fear of what she'd see. Reluctantly, she let him set her down on the bench, her...

Saffia's heart leapt into her throat as someone called for her to stop. Panic spiked, thinking her pursuers had caught up. But then she saw him—the man who had made her heart sing. Without a second thought, she ran straight into his arms, clutching onto him desperately. Her chest heaved against...