The Entanglement of Rival Wizards (Magic and Romance, #1)

by Sara Raasch

“Did you just,” he licks his lower lip, “say I was right, and apologize to me?”

I’ve seen him smile so many times. So many different flavors of it, I could write a thesis on the dozens of ways Elethior Tourael’s lips move. But this smile? It puts all the others to shame. It’s joy and relief, it’s ecstasy and an unspoken, vibrant finally.

I can’t erase the trauma; I find what makes it endurable. I learn to live around it.

It should be exhausting, or feel like a warning. Something this tumultuous can’t sustain itself, can it? Something that does nothing but burn can’t last. But I come back for that burn. My own fire was destroying me, and I keep getting close to his fire because I need a better warmth.

Part of healing is growing again, too, even if it risks those scars stretching, even if the skin breaks back open. But I know I can heal now. I can look at the wounds and think, You are not all of me.

Resolve is strength. Healing is anger and it’s sorrow and it’s calm certainty. It’s peace.