ERIS
The fire inside me was calmer now, tamed by Soren's ice into something manageable rather than consuming.
Hours in that bath had worked... my core temperature had dropped from dangerous to merely warm, divine power settling back into dormant state rather than threatening to burn me alive from within.
But in place of that calm, something else refused to settle.
The shameless urge to pounce on Soren.
Asides from the absolutely inappropriate timing, this terrified me more than Pyronox ever had, more than demons or politics or assassination attempts.
Because this was one of the things I'd been afraid of... my own overwhelming feelings threatening to swallow sense and reason whole.
As we both climbed out of the water, my eyes betrayed me. They scanned Soren's body without permission, noting every line of muscle carved by years of training, every droplet of water sliding down pale skin that looked like marble given warmth.
