Fading Embers: The Search For Lost Love Novels & Stories

“Care to follow me? It’s late and dangerous for a girl like you to be wandering around, besides its nearly twelve midnight.” “Oh,’ I took the jacket from him. It was late indeed. “Or do you want me to search for a hotel for you?” I looked at him, not saying a word. My body, my heart, was numb to even think about the consequences of following someone I don’t know. I just want to get this pain out of my heart. I just want to forget about Noah right now. He doesn’t deserve my trust. I hate him for what he did to me. I wish I had never met him.

Darius, his voice echoing through the smoke. Velise reached for me once again, her bloody tears falling like rain. “Find the beginning, Ember. It’s the only way to end it.” Please, Ember.. more like it only takes a human to work this out.. I took a deep breath and tried to hold her, but she was already fading away, her body breaking apart into light and shadow. The last thing I saw was her face, torn between agony and love, before everything went blank. And then I was back.

POV: Infirmary – Night of the Same Day The room had dimmed to whispers. The candles had long since burned low, and the world outside was snow and shadow. Ember lay still beneath wool blankets, her skin damp and too pale, her breathing shallow and uneven. And in her mind, something stirred. A whisper, too soft to trace. Then words—clear, cold. “This is what love costs you, Ember.” She turned in the fevered dark, trying to escape it, but the voice followed.

Ember lay in my arms, barely breathing, her skin glowing faintly with embers that refused to die. I pressed my forehead to hers, whispering, “I found you.” Her lips moved, the faintest smile ghosting across them. “Then find me again… when the fire calls.” Her light flickered—and went out. I screamed her name into the empty sky until my voice broke, until there was nothing left but ash and the sound of my heartbeat echoing hers.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – “The Kiss That Burns” The Emberfall garden lay hushed in the night, its roses glowing faintly with emberlight. Moonlight spilled in fractured streams across the stone paths, but even the pale glow of the sky seemed dull compared to the restless shimmer of the fire-roses. Their petals pulsed faintly, ember veins flickering as if they, too, were listening for something.

Her tears fell soundlessly into the water. Finally, Ember couldn’t take it anymore. Her vision went black as she lost consciousness, sinking slowly to the bottom of the crimson-stained fountain.

He sat up. And saw her. Standing in the doorway. Scar under her jaw. Smoke still in her hair. But her eyes? Peaceful. And dangerous. She said nothing. He said: “Did you win?” Ember walked forward. And said the only thing that mattered. “I remembered who I am.” LOCATION: Cinder Vault – Post-Erasure TIME: 11:41 a.m. The vault was collapsing. Flames crawled along the ceiling panels, eating away the metal like old sins peeling free of bone. The purge sequence ticked louder with every step Ember took.

"You're going to see Miss Colt, aren't you? Once you've seen her, will you even come back to me?" When he heard my name, his expression darkened instantly. His jaw clenched, and without saying a word, he began removing her fingers, one by one, from his clothes. He didn't even glance back at her as she cried out, begging him to stay. ... Sebastian moved quickly through the camp, searching high and low for me. I had never seen him look so desperate. Of course, he couldn't find me. My body had already been sent home days ago. If only he had asked about me a little sooner, he might have seen me one last time before I was transferred back.

I staggered toward her, my legs weak and my body heavy as if weighed down by the fever that had gripped me for days; the Feral Fever. Sweat dripped from my brow, soaking the shirt that clung to my burning skin. But all that mattered was her. She turned slowly, her face twisted with a hint of regret and something colder—pity. Her eyes, usually so full of fire, were dull, and her lips pressed into a thin line. I reached out, my hands trembling, trying to hold onto her before she slipped away. “Please, Ember,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Don’t leave me. Not again.”

The rain came harder now, a relentless downpour that drowned out everything but the crackle of the fire. We’d barely escaped the subway alive, and the creatures chasing us felt closer with every gust of wind. Even here, hidden away in the ruins of a forgotten city, the weight of the hunt pressed against my chest. I glanced at Ember. She sat cross-legged near the fire, her fiery hair casting a faint glow in the flickering light. Her golden eyes darted to the window now and then, her body coiled like she was waiting for something to go wrong. “What are you thinking?” I asked.