Novels by Irelyn V.

Nora's POV For a second I genuinely forgot how to do anything. Not just breathe. Everything. Think, blink, move, exist. All of it just stopped, I couldn't explain how. His tongue traced the seam of my lips, soft but sure, and I opened for him before my brain could even catch up. The kiss got deeper right away—warm and a little messy. A rush of heat flooded my chest and spilled down my spine, making my knees feel weirdly unsteady. I stood there staring at him, and he stood there looking back at me while kissing me. The room was completely silent, and my brain was offering me absolutely nothing useful. Then everything came back at once. My eyes went wide and I pushed against his chest and took two steps back so fast I nearly lost my balance. "What the hell?!" My voice came out louder than I meant it to. Cael didn't flinch, didn't move, didn't even look particularly surprised, which somehow made everything worse. I pointed at him. "You—" Nothing came out. I tried again. "Yo

Nora's POVFor a second I genuinely forgot how to do anything.Not just breathe. Everything. Think, blink, move, exist. All of it just stopped, I couldn't explain how.His tongue traced the seam of my lips, soft but sure, and I opened for him before my brain could even catch up. The kiss got deeper right away—warm and a little messy. A rush of heat flooded my chest and spilled down my spine, making my knees feel weirdly unsteady.I stood there staring at him, and he stood there looking back at me while kissing me. The room was completely silent, and my brain was offering me absolutely nothing useful.Then everything came back at once.My eyes went wide and I pushed against his chest and took two steps back so fast I nearly lost my balance."What the hell?!"My voice came out louder than I meant it to. Cael didn't flinch, didn't move, didn't even look particularly surprised, which somehow made everything worse.I pointed at him."You—"Nothing came out.I tried again."You—"Still not

I woke up already annoyed. Not because something was wrong exactly, just because my head was too loud and sleep had felt less like rest and more like drifting in and out of thoughts I hadn't asked for.Leon, the house, the silence. Sixteen-year-old me standing in a hallway holding a watch nobody wanted.I turned on my side and muttered, "Stop it," to absolutely no one. "It was years ago. It's nothing now."I waited for my brain to agree.It didn't.And then, as if one problem wasn't enough, another face slipped in without permission.Cael.I groaned into my pillow."Fantastic," I said out loud. "One man I don't understand and one man I don't want to see again. Great combination, Nora. Very healthy."What was wrong with me??I sat up, rubbed my face, and decided that today was going to be a professional day. Strictly professional. No replaying last night's dinner, no thinking about the way he'd looked at me across that table, and absolutely no thinking about him stepping close outside

I didn't even remember putting the phone down.Mom's voice was still sitting somewhere in my head, soft and hopeful in a way that made everything worse.*Leon is coming back.*The words just stayed there. Didn't move, didn't fade, just settled somewhere behind my eyes like they'd found a place and decided not to leave.I turned onto my side and stared at nothing in particular."Of course," I muttered.My eyes burned a little. Not enough to cry, just enough to be annoying. Maybe it was frustration, maybe it was just too many things happening in one day. I closed my eyes.And then the memories started. Not because I wanted them to.... just because they did.---I was sixteen when my mom brought me into the Vance house for the first time.I still remember holding her hand too tightly at the gate, looking up at the building and feeling something I couldn't name properly. It wasn't fear exactly. More like the feeling you get when you already know something isn't going to go the way you ho

The laughter was still in my chest when my mom's voice shifted. Not dramatically or all at once. It was just a small change in tone, the kind I'd learned to notice over the years. Like she was about to say something she'd been working up to for a while. "Nora." "Mm?" "I need to tell you something." I stopped smiling. "Okay." She paused. Then, carefully, "Leon is coming back." The name landed in my chest like something cold. Wait, who??? For a second I didn't say anything, just lay there on my bed staring at the ceiling, feeling the warmth of the last few minutes drain out of the room completely. "Leon....?" I repeated. "Yes." Her voice had gone gentle in that specific way she used when she already knew she was walking into something difficult. "He called last week. He's been abroad for a while but he's coming home, and I thought... I thought it would be nice if we all—" I frowned and cut in. "No." "Nora—" "Mom." "Just.... listen to me for a second." I sat up slowly, my

Nora's POVThe moment I shut my apartment door behind me, I leaned against it and closed my eyes.Then groaned."Oh my God!!!"I covered my face with both hands, standing there like an idiot in my own hallway."What are we?"I said it out loud, heard how it sounded, and immediately wished I hadn't."Why would I say that????" I muttered, pushing myself off the door and walking toward my room. "Out of everything. And that was what came out????"Not goodnight. Not thank you for dinner. Not even a normal, functional goodbye like a normal, functional person. No. I had looked directly at Cael Draven and asked what we were like some confused teenager who'd never spoken to a man before.I dropped face-first onto my bed."Smooth, Nora. Very smooth!"I stayed like that for a solid minute before rolling onto my back and staring at the ceiling. The embarrassment hadn't faded at all, which was annoying, because embarrassment was supposed to get smaller the more you thought about it.This one kept