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He coaxes me softly, making me still in his embrace.
Every time he touches me like this my heart claws through my flesh, screaming to be freed from the cage I keep it in.
My breaths are short against his neck. He moves his hand in small, languid motions on my back while the one, cupping my neck, massages my tense muscles.
My brows scrunch and lips quiver. He’s a kind creature, so gentle and calming, so opposite his appearance. Listening to all my shit while never having the chance to speak what he wants.
It breaks my cold heart.
It breaks it because I would’ve cared more, once upon a time, when my soul wasn’t completely shattered by another love. I can never trust him like I once did Arulius.
I won’t let myself trust anyoneeveragain. Right? My mind says yes, but my heart begs me to give it another go.
Gods.
But with him touching me so intimately, I can feel the first cord of warmth pulse through my weary chest. I lean into him and rest my cheek on his shoulder. His breath hitches for a moment, only a moment, and then he tilts his head so it’s resting against mine.
What the fuck are we doing? We can promise nothing but pain to one another.
We stay like this, in a silent treaty of hearts and comfort, for a few minutes before he’s laying us down. His back presses softly into the bed and I lift myself up enough over him to meet his eyes, my thighs on each side of his hips.
His crimson gaze pierces heavily into me, taking in my expressions. I watch him just as closely, letting myself be vulnerable in this moment.
He taps his neck once more like it’s an order.
I furrow my brow but can feel myself already giving into him. “I can last longer. I don’t need blood tonight. Please, Rune… please just go to the festival.” I push up enough to look at him. “At leastoneof us should have fun and… truly live. One of us should be happy… and I want it to be you.” I try to give him my warmest smile but his gaze softens enough that I know he sees right through me.
His palm finds my cheek and I lean into the affection. It’s been so long since I’ve received any sort of affection. Well, affection that I’m willing to accept. It’s the one thing I find more painful than death—time.
The endless suffering that time places on a soul. Being immortal will prove to be painfully brutal, because all I can think about are the ones I once loved and the way they loved me. Never to relive such warm, innocent experiences again. Not with them.
I open my eyes and my heart stops.
Rune’s smiling at me, actually smiling at me, and it’s crushing. It’s such a rare thing. I take it in. His beautiful lips curve so somberly. But it’s in his eyes that I find the true smile—heishappy. I try to find any sort of doubt in them but come up empty.
“You don’t want to go to the festival?”
He shakes his head.
“You don’t want to live and be happy? Fuck the pretty Dreadiuses that I see swooning over you?”
Another shake and a small scowl.
I smirk but hesitate. “You’re happy enough… spending your time here with someone like me?” I glance away, not sure I want to see his expression when he nods or shakes his head. But he guides my face back to his and I’m met with soft rose petals in his gaze.
They don’t look like the blood or death I once saw in them—they don’t send shivers up my spine or curl my stomach.
No, instead they cushion my fall back into my heart, sending me straight through the bars I spent so long securing up.
He nods curtly, our noses a breath apart.
He’s happy here with me? I’ve been nothing but trouble for him.
I bite my lip to stop the squall in my mind. Tears drop from my chin and crash on his cheeks. I don’t know why I’m crying. Maybe all this shit has finally caught up to me… I’m just so fucking tired and thinking too much. I can’t shake the ominous feeling that doom will follow if I indulge with him.
Rune slips his hand behind my neck once more and tugs me down to his. My ebony hair falls around us and I no longer want to fight this.
I lick the skin above his artery gently, running my tongue from his collarbone to the tender place behind his ear. His breaths are getting shorter and I can hear the pounding of his heart. He’s scared, and fuck, I am too.
