The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia, #2)

by Carissa Broadbent

The door swung open just as my fingertips brushed the knob. He was alive. He was alive. I didn’t take in anything else about him, only that he was here and alive and standing right before me and alive and smiling and alive. And then his arms were around me, and mine around him, and the two of us held each other for a minute and an eternity, like two halves reunited. I buried my face against the bare skin of his chest and squeezed my eyes shut against the tears. For a long time, we stayed like that. And then eventually, he murmured against my hair, “So you missed me.” Arrogant prick, I thought. But aloud I said, “I love you.” I felt his shock at those words—actually felt it, like it was my own. And then, the wave of contentment that followed, like the sun falling over my face. His arms tightened. “Good. Because now you’re really stuck with me.” I scoffed, but the sound was muffled against his skin, and it sounded much weaker than I’d intended. His lips pressed to the top of my head.