Page 81 of Our Radiant Embers

“Thank you.” It was a soft murmur, Adam’s gaze on me for another slow blink before he looked away. The rhythmic sound of the sea was a peaceful backdrop as comfortable silence fell along with the leisurely arrival of night.

* * *

The morning sun woke me. No nightmares, just a sweet drift into awareness, the backs of my lids painted a cheerful orange.

There was no sign of Adam yet when I made it downstairs, so I set about preparing a lavish breakfast. Oh, sure, he intended to simply ignore his birthday, but I had no such plans. If his family wasn’t going to make him feel special, well, I didn’t mind stepping up. I was kindly assisted by approximately three garden centres’ worth of flowers from Cassandra and a chocolate cake from Gale, both delivered by a discreet Hartley employee. A note from Cassandra said the man could be trusted.

By the time Adam made it downstairs, the table on the terrace looked like a florist’s Instagram account had thrown up all over it. Gale’s cake sat at the centre, and I’d boiled eggs and cut up fruit. Adam paused in the doorway, sleep still tucked into the corners of his eyes.

“I thought I told you not to make it into a big deal?” The question contradicted the light in his eyes.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “But you didn’t actually expect me to listen, did you?”

“I guess not.” He wandered closer, and fuck, it was the morning of his thirtieth birthday and he was here, with me. I closed the gap between us and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Happy birthday, Adam.”

Sleepy warmth and a subtle, woodsy scent that was starting to feel familiar. He nestled his head into the crook of my shoulder, and for a few moments, we simply stood there, one of his hands cradling my neck, our chests pressed together. When he stirred, I brushed a kiss against his cheek and stepped away.

“Thank you,” he said, an unusual translucence in his voice. “For all this.”

“It’s the least I can do. Although”—I nodded my chin at the table—“I should mention that the flowers are from Cassandra and the cake from Gale. I assume he knows you’re not turning twenty-nine?”

Adam glanced at the glittering number on the cake and grinned, a tinge of sadness in the curve of his mouth. “Yeah, he knows. He also knows I was dreading this a bit, so…”

“That’s for another time,” I told him. “Today, it’s all about having fun, okay? Breakfast first, then we’ll do a boat tour to see some seals, and for dinner, I reserved us a table at an Italian restaurant.”

“Wow. That’s…” Adam cleared his throat, smile a tad wobbly. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do all that.”

“I know.” Something sweetly heavy sat in my stomach. I let my hand rest on his shoulder. “Now, I would offer to make coffee, but I know you’d only pour it down the drain. So how about you make it, and then we have some cake?”

“Sounds like a deal.” Adam hesitated. Then he leaned in for another hug and a fleeting, whisper-light touch of our foreheads before he turned towards the kitchen. I picked my stupid heart off the ground and followed.

Breakfast spanned nearly two hours along with, somehow, us getting into my relationship history. Adam brought it up because he claimed he deserved to live vicariously through me.

“I had a total of two boyfriends,” I told him, “and neither lasted longer than six months. I’m no authority on the subject.”

“That’s still two more than me.” He speared a bite of chocolate cake, watching me with keen attention. “How come they didn’t last longer? I guess hiding your magic would have put a damper on things.”

That was the convenient excuse I’d given my family when they’d asked why neither of my exes had warranted an introduction. Hey, maybe I’d made them up? Because let’s face it, who’d want to date a total loser like me?

Ah, yes. Siblings—always there to check your ego.

“Honestly?” I took a sip of coffee. It was excellent as always, the milk foam embellished with a leaf pattern, and oh, I wouldn’t mind this kind of treat on the regular. “That’s what I told my family and George, yeah—remember how he was on my case about partying too hard and studying too little in uni? So, yeah. He’s this steady, calm bloke who will absolutely find a great woman to marry, and they’ll grow old and grey together. Meanwhile, I seem to get bored after just a few weeks with the same guy. Hiding my magic had nothing to do with it.”

Adam dipped his head and shot me a look from underneath his lashes, a strange half-smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “So if things were different with us, it’d be just a few weeks until you’d want to get rid of me? I mean, ouch.”

“I wouldn’t get bored with you.” The words came out too quick and honest. I wished I could take them back.

Adam stared at me for a second, eyes dark. Then he blinked. When he spoke, his voice was so low that I had to lean in a little. “How do you know?”

Because it’s you.

I looked away. “Because I’ve already spent more time with you than I did with both my exes combined. And I only seem to like you more for it.”

“Maybe you didn’t pick them very well.”

“They were perfectly nice guys. Fit, too. But—and this is probably going to sound arrogant, yeah?” I pursed my mouth. “But they just didn’t…I don’t want someone nodding along with everything I say. They just didn’t keep me on my toes.”

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