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She smiled truly then, her bright eyes seeming to spark before she leaned down, kissing me roughly. When she pulled away, she released me from her grip and rolled off, pulling me to her side. “Why is this so easy for you?” she asked as I settled into her side and she seemed to regain her composure.
“What do you mean?” I asked as I listened to her heart beating steadily.
“Why are you happy with this, with someone like me, with having no choice in it all?”
“Don’t do that. Don’t say things like that about yourself,” I chastised.
“I didn’t say anything,” she said amused.
“You implied you’re not amazingly perfect,” I told her. “And you are, you are perfect to me, for me. I know others might think it’s odd. In some ways we’re completely opposite. You’re like a summer storm, overpowering and all-consuming, but I’m the dry earth you bring to life. I need you.”
“Do I make you bloom?” she whispered, and I heard the laughter she held back.
“You’re in no way romantic,” I deadpanned. She laughed lightly and the sound was soothing. “There was a choice. There was always a choice. The bond - you know it isn’t predestined. You know you could have walked away,” I reminded her. “Part of you, and part of me, we chose this. It was easy, simple, natural for me, and it could be confused for lack of choice, but I chose to love you.”
“Do you want romance?” she asked. I shrugged. I wanted only what she was willing to give me. She held me quietly, her fingers at my waist drawing patterns on my exposed flesh. I was calm and almost asleep when she spoke again, “We’ve not spoken about what happened.”
“What do you want to know?” I asked her, sleepily. I had been avoiding thinking about the last couple of days. Every time a thought entered my head, I pushed it out. I looked to Selene and allowed thoughts of her to fill my mind instead.
“Everything. I want to know everything,” she told me, her chest rumbling.
“My friend died, I think. I don’t know for sure. He saved me. Another man died too. And Valen - he, he scared me,” I stuttered.
“Did he touch you?” she hissed lowly.
“No, not really, he was – uh - handsy.”
“Meaning?” she hissed, so low I almost didn’t hear her.
“He - he groped me, and he threatened to do worse.”
“Did he do worse?” she asked and her arm around my side pulled me impossibly closer to her.
“No,” I told her strongly and felt as she released a held breath.
“The cells under House Vouna castle, it’s not right, Selene. I saw what they do down there. What happens to blood slaves. You need to stop it. She hurt me. She bit me. It wasn’t anything like you. I thought, I thought I was going to die.” I was the one crying then. Somehow remembering that place was worse than when I was stuck there. I couldn’t feel much at all, but the determination to escape, at the time; only I didn’t know all that horror was being stored up.
“They will both be dead soon. I’ll kill Clara myself. Unfortunately, Valen’s death will not be at my hands. No one will ever harm you again,” she promised and pressed her nose into my hair.
“What about the people down there now?” I asked her. “Can’t you do something?”
“It is not so simple,” she told me.
“You’re the Princess,” I said, confused. Why didn’t she do something? Why didn’t she care?
“I don’t have such power to free the prisoners or slaves of other Houses. The only broken law was your abduction, as you are my property,” she explained. I cried harder, twisting further into her. “I’ll try. I’ll do what I can,” she told me, her hand moving to rub my back.
“They told me things about you,” I said after gaining control of my tears. I didn’t know if I wanted to tell her what they said or know if it was true.
“It was likely true,” she sighed.
“That you kill and feed indiscriminately?”
“I did. I was never satisfied.”
“That you and Clara were, uh, together?” I asked lowly.
“I fucked her,” she told me simply. “But we were never in a relationship.”
