AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The fact that you can say that...after what I just did makes me want to drop to my knees before you and never let you go.” I kissed her again, a fleeting worshipping press.
She sucked in a breath. Her lips slowly parted beneath mine.
And when we pulled apart, her eyes were aglow with ferocity. Ferocity that sang to the ferocity inside me, full of fangs and fate.
“I don’t care who you are or why you believe the ocean should’ve chosen you instead of your family to die that day. All I know is...I need you. I need you to help me forget him. I need you to erase him from my thoughts like you erased him from my life.” Her voice wavered but she forced herself to say, “I-I don’t want a single night to pass where he exists inside me.”
I went deathly cold. “What...what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I don’t want him in my mind anymore. I don’t want him in my body. I never want to think of him again or remember a single moment when I was his. Take those memories away from me. Burn them to dust and cut them into tiny pieces. Be with me, Aslan. Be with me so I never have to remember being with him.”
My heart thundered.
I knew.
I knew what she asked of me and part of me recoiled at the thought. To be with her in that way after what she’d endured? To think I had any power whatsoever to heal her from what that bastard had done?
“Neri...I—”
“Please, Aslan.” Her jaw worked, hiding the depth of her torment. She stood so strong, so brave, so forgiving. She’d wanted Ethan to live. She was so much better than him. So much better than me. She’d been willing to let him keep his life, even after he’d stolen such a vital piece of hers.
I was in awe of her.
In absolute fucking awe and if I was honest, I didn’t deserve her.
Not tonight.
Nor any night.
And yet...
She flinched as she swallowed on a silent sob, revealing just how much she wasn’t okay. Just how much her strength would eventually break, and I needed to be there to pick up her pieces.
If this was what she needed from me.
She could have me.
All of me.
Forever.
Kissing her forehead, I murmured, “Okay, askim benim. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
She shattered a little. Her composure fractured. Fresh grief wracked through her.
But then she sucked in a breath.
She kissed me on the mouth, then strode without a word back into the captain’s cabin.
Chapter Forty-Three
*
Nerida
*
AGE: 17 YRS OLD
