* AMBER ERIN ANDERSON *
"Tell me you're joking right now," I said, after hearing everything from Ember. He remained quiet, which only proved that whatever he just said was all true and he'd done it.
Ember had revealed his true identity to the world.
And now he was scrutinising the structure of my leftover pizza.
"What is this piece of creation—"
"So, you're telling me," I cut him off, ignoring how he was holding the pepperonis one by one, spreading them in his palm and arranging them in an orderly sequence. "Vivianne snitched on you because your friend Ilayna, a Gifted Ezèrian, refused to heal her father and then, when Vivianne found out that Ilayna is becoming Ira's knight"— I threw my hands in the air in confusion. —"which literally doesn't make any sense at all, she basically ordered you to reveal Ilayna's identity to the court and when you refused to do that, she goes bonkers and breaks off the deal," I summarised what he said, my head spiralling with questions. It had been barely a week since I left and this much had already happened?
Ember nodded, picking up one of the pepperonis and examining it cautiously, eyebrows frowned deeply. I sighed, shaking my head. "And after that, you came up with your mega plan and just decided to drop your identity to the whole court, on the day of your wedding, when the entire country was watching you,"
He made no comment, only took the peparonis and placed them back in the pizza, in the exact way it was before he took them.
"My father wanted to send me to the gods right then and there but thanks to my Protection Spell, I was unharmed," he said, his voice cool, casual, nonchalant, as if he just didn't declare the fact that his own father wanted to murder him. "His army and him must be looking for me right now and knowing my father and his skills, he would have found me by now if I didn't decide to come here,"
"This is all so messed up," I finally said, letting out a sigh. "You pretty much declared to all of Elysia that king Edric, who has been an anti-Ezèrian all his life, has a son who's an Ezèrian himself. The price of your stunt is going to be big, the kingdom is going to be in a mayhem, Ember."
"I know," he said, looking down on his lap, his laced fingers as he played with the rings. "But I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't put anymore lives in danger for me and time was running out, I didn't have any resources or anyone that I could rely on, without risking their lives. I had to do something because there was no way I would wed Vivianne. Even though, the chance of my Protection Spell breaking because of the amalgamation was low, there was still a chance, wasn't there? And I couldn't take that."
The rational part of me was relieved that he didn't marry Vivianne but another stupid part of wished there was another reason he didn't want to marry Vivianne.
"Revealing my identity cost me my life but it was also the beginning of a new me," Ember said and I realised how his voice changed when he said that, how it was replaced with enormous confidence. "The kingdom is going to see my father and me in a new light, in a new perspective -- and by the gods, the Eirlys Empire might even call in for a war for lying to them but in all sense, I am ready for anything," he then looked at me, his eyes softening. "I am ready for anything if you are by my side."
"I will fight the wars, I will rebuild Elysia, I will face my father, I will fight the ones who want me dead, I will defy my fate, I will do it all if I have you by my side -- because you're reason I have reached this far," he never looked away when he said all that things, never blinked, never diverted his attention and I was suddenly lost for words.
This shouldn't have made me so surprised -- Ember was like this -- he would always say things out of the pocket, he would always say the most heartfelt things randomly and have no clue about what it did to me but this was different, this felt so different. This had me swallowing, had my heart going racing quick, had me forget my surroundings and had me lost in his grey eyes, had me looking at his soft lips and how they were moving and forming words that I wasn't quite able to hear at all?
This had me leaning towards him, my body not listening to me, only getting closer to him — despite my brain telling it to stop, that this was not the right time, that I was still upset with him, that he might not be thinking the same thing as me, and suddenly, I was glad my body wasn't paying any heed to me.
"Erin, please say something," he whispered, and I wanted to say how there was nothing to say anymore but I didn't, just to prove my point and tilted my head, closing my eyes as I felt him doing the same. I was so close, so close to place my lips on his that I could almost feel his slow breath, could feel how he brought his hand forward, about to cup my face and I couldn't help but smile—
"Amber, I think this one will fit your Ember guy—" I loved Nathan, I really did -- I would gladly give my life for him if there was a time like that but in that moment, I wanted to be the one to take his life.
Ember and I distanced ourselves from each other so quick, we almost knocked down the table and the contents in it, making Ember hold down the table. He quickly busied himself looking at the pizza again, and I noticed how his ears had grown unusually pink, causing me to fight a smile.
I glared at Nathan as he avoided my gaze and then threw the jersey at me and I caught it effortlessly, examining it and realising it was the same jersey that Nathan had bought a year ago and then tossed it away when he realised it was too large for him. I unfolded the shirt, spreading it in the air and comparing its size to Ember -- it would still not fit him but it would do the work for tonight.
Ember looked like he desperately wanted to be out of here; so he took the shirt from me and asked me where he could change. I gestured towards the bathroom as he quickly walked off.
"Tell me you two were not about to make out at the dining table," Nathan remarked once Ember was out of sight.
I cringed hearing him, rolling my eyes. "We were doing nothing, Nathan," I said, realising how awful my own lie sounded in my ears.
"Sure," he shrugged, and I could sense how he was grinning like an idiot right now.
"I swear to God—"
"I know I haven't even spent a day with that out-of-the-world-creature, but even a fool can say that he's in love with you," he gave me no chance to talk and continued. "I mean, have you seen how he was blushing right now? I bet he is still freaking out."
"Please address him normally," I shook my head, remembering all the things Nathan called Ember, everything except his name. "And Ember is tired and love is the last thing he's concerned about right now -- he has a whole ass kingdom waiting to kill him."
"And yet he talks like he can conquer it all with you," Nathan made a dramatic gesture, waving his hand in the air as I smacked his arm.
***
Next morning, when I woke up from my nonexistent sleep, I found both Ember and Nathan sleeping on the couch, their heads tilted in the opposite direction, both of them sitting in an awkward position, Nathan drooling, while Ember's mouth slightly opened, slowly breathing, his hair falling down the back of the couch.
It was pretty obvious that Nathan and Ember didn't get any sleep last night and spent the night talking about what God knew what. I sighed and smacked their heads lightly at the same time, causing Ember to wake up in an instant while Nathan remained motionless.
Ember's eyes were groggy as they searched for what hit him and his eyes instantly met mine, and he smiled looking at me. "I missed waking up like this," he said, his voice low and deep.
"Like what?" I asked, knowing the answer.
"Seeing you," he sat up straight, scratching his eyes and letting out a yawn. "When did you wake up?"
I avoided his gaze -- I'd been avoiding his gaze way too much since last night -- in fact I didn't talk to him at all after he came back from the bathroom. I simply showed him where he could sleep and went straight to the bed, thinking over his words over and over, until I had them memorised at the tip of my tongue and fought the urges to kick my feet in the air and giggle in the middle of the night.
But it was morning now, and I should've been acting normal now, like he was -- but all that I could think about was how I could notice his firm muscles beneath Nathan's black shirt, how it embraced them, how I could notice his slim waist that I never did because of the layers of clothes he would wear back in the palace, how strikingly beautiful he looked when the morning sun hit his face from my living room.
"I don't know for how long you're going to stay here but you need clothes. Of your own size," I blurted out, forgetting about his question. "And wake him up. We are gonna do a lot of things today," I grinned, shaking Nathan again, with no satisfactory result -- he was still sleeping -- and drooling.
Ember raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to show me around your world?"
"Yep, and I'm going to show you some things as well, things that don't exist in Elysia or anywhere in your world," I said, not being able to decide what I should start with. The phone, perhaps.
Ember looked amused, but he was smiling slightly, and I wondered how a human could have so many kinds of smiles and was still able to look the most loveable in every one of them.
"I look forward to today, then," his face broke into a wide smile and my stomach did a funny stunt at that, one that I wasn't quite familiar with but it didn't last long so I didn't mind, because Ember being happy suddenly became my favourite thing this morning.
"I'm going to give you a haircut first," I said, looking at his hair, thinking of all the ways to give him a good haircut."It can be your like, great comeback sign when you go back to Elysia. Then, we'll go to the shop and buy you outfits. After that, we can go to this new amusement park or something, and I can show you around as well and you can tell me everything that you haven't told me yet."
Ember didn't say anything, only tilted his head to a side, strands of hair falling to a side as well. "I'm so happy you're not mad at me anymore," he said, relieved, as the sun decided to send more of its rays onto his face, the sunlight changing the colours of his eyes -- making them almost golden, but with a sprinkle of silver in it, like there was suddenly a sun emerging from the clouds, making its place in his eyes.
It sounded weird, even irrational — but logic never really had a place here with everything going around me — but I realised that the Sun loved Ember because I had never seen it being so gentle with anyone like this before.
I laughed hearing him, realising that this was the first time I was truly happy after I came back from Elysia and for a moment that realisation scared me -- shook my heart, because I didn't want it to be true, I didn't want to believe this harsh truth because then the cost of my happiness would be too much and I wouldn't be able to pay it.
But for now, just for now, I pushed away all those thoughts: I pushed away the thoughts of my confused feelings, of Ember being in a life-or-death situation, of Elysia hunting him down and me giving him safety, of Ember ruining the reputation of his father and his kingdom, of me desperate to know all his secrets, of me eager to know about my past -- I shoved away all those thoughts.
For now, Ember was happy, and so was I.
.
a/n:
amber being in love is the cutest :(
i never really figured out their tropes but they're slowly becoming he fell first she fell harder <3
i leave the interpretation of the chapter titles to the readers, they can do it however they want to, but for me, this one means amber's love for ember emerging.
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