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He also gave me way too many damned goosebumps.
I forced my eyes to follow the words on the page. They were either in English, or Vevol’s magic had translated them for me.
I’d never really been a poem girl, but I tried to enjoy the writing. Some of it didn’t make sense, but most of it did.
After we made it through a dozen or so, I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the peace of the moment.
I’d never been held like this before. I’d never had a man’s arms around me so possessively. I’d never felt so… important to him.
My father’s protectiveness was mostly to blame for that.
Wistfulness engulfed me as I thought about the family I’d left behind. They weren’t good for me, or for my future, but they were mine, and I had loved them. I hoped like hell that my sister was okay, that she was coping with losing me. We hadn’t ever been super close, and she’d moved out a few years before I was brought to Vevol, but still, I worried for her.
Priel’s nose remained buried in my hair, his chest rising and falling steadily against my back. His fingers were curled beneath my hip, getting trapped underneath me, but his thumb traced a slow circle just above the place his fingers had disappeared to.
Priel read through many more poems before he lingered on one much longer than the others.
I peeked my eyes open to see what had captured his attention, and found a poem titledI Burn for Youby someone named Orthrus.
My gaze followed the words, and my throat swelled a bit as I read them.
Sitting beneath the shining moon,I burn; I burn for you.
Leaning against this wall of stone, I blaze, waiting for you.
Standing under this sky of stars, I watch while my flames dance for you.
Walking up a road of ash, I smoke, searching for you.
Drowning in the pain of flesh, I’m blazing, flaming, smoking, and burning… for you.
There was somuch emotion in the words that it choked me up a little. I didn’t know what had inspired them, or why, but I wanted to.
Priel held the book open for a few more long moments before he set it down on the mattress.
The arm he had beneath me wrapped around my chest, dragging me as close as I could possibly get to him.
“I want to know you,” he murmured to me. “Tell me everything.”
“How am I supposed to tell youeverything?” I asked, my eyes shutting as I leaned back against Priel’s chest.
“I suppose you’ll just have to spend the next few months lying in this bed with me until you’ve spoken all of it.”
I snorted, and felt his lips stretch in a grin against my neck.
“Why don’tyoutellmeeverything?” I countered.
“Sure. It won’t take long.” His hand slid out from beneath my hip, his fingertips dragging over my abdomen slowly. My body warmed in response to his touch, but I didn’t acknowledge it.
He began softly. “There’s not much to do in Vevol, other than fighting, cooking, and creating art. I know men on Earth often fulfill different roles than the women there, but here, we do everything. Cleaning. Sewing. Cooking. Gardening. That was my life. I painted. Inked my brothers. Grew plants, in a patch hidden away from the other hellhounds. Life was simple, but dull. When the itch got too bad, I started fights, or joined the ones already happening. Life had no purpose, then, and a life without purpose isn’t much of a life. Since I started fighting for you, you became that purpose. And now, everything has changed.”
“Is that a good thing, though?” I asked.
“It’s anincrediblething.” His hand still stroked my abdomen lightly. My body throbbed with his touch, but I did my best to ignore the feelings. Nothing had ever felt so intimate… or so safe.
It was my turn to tell him about my life, I supposed.
My voice was at least as soft as his. “My parents were good to me, but they were terrible people. They killed in cold blood, hurt other people for the sake of money, and manipulated with every breath they took. They matched me to some guy in an arranged marriage the day I turned eighteen,” I admitted.
