Chapter 15 Kieran
KIERAN
The night sky stretched above me like a dark canopy, twinkling stars strewn across it in quiet defiance of everything unraveling below.
I leaned against the stone railing of my bedroom balcony, a thin blanket wrapped around my shoulders, more for comfort than warmth.
The cool air brushed against my skin and tugged gently at my hair, but I barely felt it.
My focus was far too tangled in the knot behind my ribs—the pressure that had been building steadily since the confrontation with the Dominion.
A heavy sigh fell from my lips as my eyes fixated on the stars that weren’t gleaming as brightly, reminding me of that imminent prophecy on top of the threat of the triad.
I’d barely started wrapping my head around what it meant to carry Star Keeper magic and what it might demand from me, and now I was supposed to lead through the threat of a full-scale war against the very heavens themselves.
I let the blanket fall to the ground and leaned over. My fingers tightened around the edge of the railing, trying to ground myself. I knew the blowback from the upper triads was a possibility, but I’d hoped that just for a fucking moment I could focus on one thing at a time.
The world felt too large tonight. Too full of unanswered questions and stakes I wasn’t sure I could shoulder.
I knew I wasn’t alone. Creator, I knew I wasn’t—my men had made sure of that.
Their belief in me never faltered, never wavered, but that almost made it worse, because the more I loved them, the more impossible it felt to let them down.
The more dangerous it became to dream about a future with them in it.
The fear wasn’t just about failure anymore—it was about loss.
My anxiety had started as a sharp edge and now it had expanded into something fuller, heavier. It lived in my chest like a second heartbeat, one that pulsed in time with the people I couldn’t afford to lose.
A familiar sound broke the silence of the night, soft and rhythmic, wings slicing through air in smooth, gliding arcs.
I looked up just in time to see a dark blur circling overhead. Niz.
He dipped low over the balcony once, his smaller wyvern form silhouetted against the stars.
Black scales caught the faintest light from the bedroom behind me, revealing the soft shimmer of his green underbelly as he adjusted his flight.
Then, with practiced ease, he coasted toward the balcony and landed on the wide stone railing with a soft scrape of claws.
He folded his wings with a quiet huff and settled into a crouch, his eyes watching me with quiet awareness.
I moved closer and reached out, my fingers brushing lightly under his jaw before scratching the spot just beneath his chin.
He leaned into it with a low, pleased rumble, and a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth despite the tightness still coiled in my chest. I pressed a soft kiss to the curve of his snout, just like I used to back when I thought he was nothing more than Ronan’s wild companion—just a wyvern with an attitude and a penchant for napping in inconvenient places.
“I must admit,” I murmured, voice thick with amusement, “it’s nice to have a guy who can’t always talk back.”
The quiet stretched between us, not awkward or uncertain, but grounding.
Niz’s body remained still as I stroked beneath his chin, the firm line of his scaled jaw warm beneath my hand.
There was something soothing in the weight of him there, in the simple rhythm of his breathing and the steady gaze that held mine without judgment, without expectation.
For a few blessed seconds, it was just this: me, the stars, and the man who had somehow become both my comfort and my chaos.
I pulled back slightly, still trailing my fingers along the smooth ridge of his snout, and offered a half-smile, wanting to incite a little bit of that chaos to distract me.
“Really,” I said, tilting my head as I eyed him. “You’re very well-behaved like this. Quiet. Obedient. All things I can definitely get used to. I might even prefer you this way.”
His nostrils flared, and a low, pointed huff escaped him—a sound I was fairly certain translated to don’t push your luck, My Fire.
“I mean it,” I continued, teasing. “It’s refreshing having someone around who can’t talk, smirk, and distract me with smoldering stares.”
The words had barely left my mouth before a pulse of energy rolled off him—magic stretching and folding with a sudden rush of heat.
My eyes widened as Niz shifted without warning, form blurring and lengthening, his scales vanishing into skin, his body rising with a fluid snap of transformation that left no time to react.
And then he was there in his human form. Very human and very naked.
He was sitting lazily on the balcony’s railing, the curve of his shoulders loose and unbothered. His hands rested on his knees, and his expression was smug and wicked—pointed directly at me.
“Oh, excuse me, My Fire,” he drawled. “I must’ve forgotten I wasn’t allowed to smirk or talk back.”
My gaze dipped despite my best efforts to keep eye contact, but it was impossible when his cock was damn near eye-level with me.
His very obvious erection stood at perfect attention, and I clamped a hand over my mouth to muffle the startled laugh that bubbled up uninvited.
“What a way to make an entrance,” I said, voice muffled behind my fingers. “Hello to you too.”
“Always happy to make an impression,” he murmured, and then in one fluid motion, he slid off the railing.
His bare feet hit the stone with barely a sound, and he didn’t pause before crossing the small distance between us. His body moved with that same predator-smooth grace he had in his wyvern form, all lazy power and sharp focus—except now there was heat in his gaze that simmered.
The stars above blurred behind him as he stepped into my space, and I didn’t move. Not even as he caged me gently against the railing, one hand lifting to cup my cheek while the other slid to rest at my waist.
His mouth hovered just inches above mine as he spoke roughly.
“I can absolutely talk back if you’d like a verbal sparring match,” he muttered before raising an eyebrow. “But right now…” He leaned in, his breath warm against my cheek, “…I’d rather do something else to occupy both of our minds.”
A breath caught in my throat. The energy between us had shifted so quickly it took me off guard. The tension wrapped itself around us in full, spurring heat low in my stomach.
My heart fluttered wildly behind my ribs as he stood there with his body curved around mine, the heat of his skin bleeding through the space between us. I swallowed as his gaze swept slowly over my features like he was memorizing every one of them for later.
I exhaled carefully, my fingers twitching at my sides, wanting to reach for him but not quite trusting myself to start something I wasn’t sure I could finish. Not with the way my nerves were already scraped raw from the day and from the weight of what tomorrow would demand.
But his presence—solid, warm, wholly focused—grounded me. Exactly what I needed.
“You think this’ll help?” I asked, my voice soft, teasing—but beneath it, real curiosity threaded the question. “Taking my mind off everything?”
A small smile curved his mouth.
“I think,” he murmured, “your mind has been at war all day. And I think…” His hand rose to brush a stray strand away from my face, the pad of his thumb barely skimming my skin before tucking it behind my ear.
“…you deserve a moment that’s just yours.
No prophecy. No planning. No pretending you don’t want to let go for once. ”
He was right. Of course he was.
When my throat had knitted itself back together with the energy of the Star Keepers, I’d sworn to myself to not take any moment for granted. To remember to appreciate and love to the fullest, and spend time with those that I held dear to me.
It was too easy to slip into the strategic mindset and become paralyzed after everything stacking up against us. This was the exact reminder I needed.
Without speaking, I lifted my hands and let them rest on his chest, fingers splaying against warm skin. His heart beat steadily beneath my palm, unbothered and sure, and when I looked up at him again, a small smile tugged at my lips.
“You’re annoyingly correct,” I whispered.
His grin widened. “And yet, you keep me around.”
My body shook as a laugh erupted from me. “Maybe I keep you around because you’re the only one arrogant enough to stand on my balcony naked and try to seduce me with emotional stability.”
His eyes glittered as he batted his eyelashes. “Is it working?”
I let my fingers trail slowly downward, dragging my palms along the dip of his waist. I felt his muscles bunching beneath my touch and reveled at the way my touch unraveled him just as his did for me.
Slowly I shifted to grab the hem of my silk pajama top.
His gaze dropped to the motion, the heat in his eyes deepening as I tugged it over my head and let the fabric fall to the ground next to my discarded blanket.
The cool air kissed my skin, and his hands found my waist as he leaned in and let his mouth brush the side of my throat. He kissed a trail down and over my sternum as his hands gently tugged my shorts down to join its matching top on the ground.
“Trust me,” he whispered quietly, one hand already sliding behind my thigh. My mouth opened to ask what he meant, but was cut off with his movement.
I let out a small gasp as his arms slid under me and lifted me off the ground in one clean motion. The night tilted slightly, wind raking over my pebbled nipples as Niz stepped forward and set me carefully on the stone railing of the balcony.
The ledge was far too narrow and I wobbled instinctively, fingers flying to grip the carved stone for balance.
But Niz was already there to steady me with his hands pressed gently to my thighs. The dark gleam in his eyes sharpened.