Page 54 of Drown Me Gently

Years of restraint.

Of aching denial.

Of loneliness wrapped in duty, now unraveling in the warmth of Auren’s lips.

And gods help him, Auren let it all in.

A kiss written in tears. Ulric’s hand tangled in his hair, the other holding him firm, and Auren gasped against his mouth, reeling. He didn’t know a kiss could feel like this. Like forgiveness. Like gravity. Like coming home.

The glide of Ulric’s lips, the gentle brush of his tongue, asking permission to taste. To explore.

To love.

Ulric guided Auren back onto the bed, lowering him to the cushions. The Kraken settled his weight over him, not heavy but enough that Auren’s body was on fire with the weight of the man on top of him. Their mouths met again in a greedy kiss, tasting, taking, giving. Auren’s hands roamed upward, slipping beneath Ulric’s tunic, tracing along his broad back, over the contours of muscle and damp skin. Ulric’s fingers ghosted over Auren’s waist, his ribs, the place where scale had once met flesh.

With every touch, they grew braver.

Fingertips to palms. Lips to throat. Breath to breath.

And then, Ulric pulled back, just enough to rest their foreheads together. Both of them were panting, chests rising and falling in sync. The air between them thick with exhales and sweat.

“Never…” Ulric murmured, voice hoarse, “In all my years has anyone… anything… made me…”

He trailed off, shaking his head. Damp strands of his dark hair fell forward, brushing Auren’s cheek. But there was a smile there. Shy and a little stunned. Like it wasn’t meant to exist but had broken through anyway.

“I do not know myself like this,” Ulric admitted.

Auren reached up, pushing the hair from Ulric’s face. His fingers were deliberate as he cupped the side of his jaw, searching those ink-dark eyes—and finding something new.

Not sorrow.

Not shame.

But joy. Quiet and nervous, tucked behind thick lashes.

“I want to know you like this,” Auren said softly. “In all the ways you exist. All the things you hide. I want… you.”

Ulric’s hand came to rest on his cheek, the pad of his thumb stroking beneath Auren’s eye. He leaned in, pressing a kiss there, then another at the corner of his mouth.

“My spriteling…” he murmured. “You don’t know this. But you’ve had me all this time.” He sighed, breath heavy on Auren’s neck, voice tight. “Until now, I couldn’t allow myself to feel this. Have this.”

Auren squeezed his eyes shut, overwhelmed. “My pride blinded me,” he whispered. “I kept trying to prove I was strong enough. That I knew what I was doing. I was a fool.” Auren opened his eyes, and when he did, found Ulric already staring at him. “But… if I’m broken, if I’m stubborn and cut up and used… will you still have me, Kraken?”

Ulric looked down at him like the sea itself had parted to show him something divine. He lowered himself until their bodies touched chest to chest, hand slipping behind Auren’s neck to hold him steady.

“For all my time in this realm,” Ulric said, voice barely more than a breath, “I am yours.”

Auren wrapped his arms around Ulric’s ribs and whispered into the space between their mouths:

“Then I am yours.”

They lay like that, wrapped in warmth, the last flickers of firelight dimming around them. Ulric’s lips pressed a lingering kiss to Auren’s temple, then to his hair. And that was the last thing Auren remembered. Falling asleep in arms that didn’t let go. Held through the hush of night. Kissed into a peace he had never known.

Auren was well enough to walk now.

He moved slower than he used to, still favoring the side of his body where the wounds hadn’t cut as deeply. But the light returned to his eyes. That fire. That insatiable spark of curiosity Ulric feared the humans had smothered for good.

But no. It was still there.