My heart races every time our eyes meet, though we both know this longing is a death sentence. In the sacred order of the Ember Veil, desire is sin, and lust is blasphemy. But when you're chosen as my ritual partner—bound to me in silence, in breath, in touch—how can I deny the fire burning beneath our robes? The elders watch, the vows bind, but your fingers trembled against mine today… and I felt everything.