The kiss washed over him like a wild storm, transforming him from the outside in or the inside out, he wasn't sure.
He responded instinctively, his lips parting to welcome her and his fingers tightening around the back of her neck to pull her closer to him, closer and deeper into the heat and the hunger of their embrace.
As the world fell away, there was nothing but the two of them, lost in the fire and the fury of their passion.
He knew that he would never be the same after this kiss because he had found something precious, something rare and beautiful and infinitely valuable.
Hope.
Fate.
He and Jasmine were destined to be together.
In her arms, Ell-rom had found a sanctuary from the raging storm, and he knew, with a certainty that defied explanation, that he would never let her go.