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“I'm not sure I'm one to judge,” I said, my throat tightening as I thought of the things I'd done, the lives I'd taken. Starting with the man I’d known as my father.
“Nothing you do could ever scare me or make me love you less.”
“You used to scare me, Draven,” I whispered, skimming my fingers over the back of his neck.
He was quiet for a moment. “I know. But I was never your prison. Never your captor. All I've ever wanted was to be your protector. Your sanctuary.”
My heart flipped over in my chest.
Draven reached out a hand and caressed my hair. “I saw you, and I wanted to consume you. Like a fire that would only burn for me.”
“I think you've succeeded all too well,” I murmured, tilting my forehead gently against his.
“Yours is the only kingdom I'll pay fealty to. Yours are the only feet at which I'll willingly kneel.” He leaned back and touched my chin, lifting it. “I'd rather be a villain by your side than play the hero for anyone else. The world is dark and vile, but I'd willingly follow you into the depths of hell itself. All I want to do is shield you. Do you understand, Morgan? You're my redemption, good or bad, right or wrong.”
I looked into his eyes and understood. He may not have been a knight in shining armor, but he was the one I was meant to be with. There was no scaring him away. He had looked into the depths of my shadows and seen the light. He'd looked past every twisted fragment and loved me anyway.
“So consume me,” I whispered. “I see your shadows, too, Draven. And I'll only burn for you.”
He touched my lips with his and then he did. Again and again.
CHAPTER 23 - MORGAN
Later, we lay in thebed upstairs in the cottage, naked in each other’s arms. We’d stoked the fire to a roaring blaze, and a wonderful warmth flowed from it.
“I wish this were real,” I said sleepily.
Draven was silent. I’d told him of the events of my day, catching him up on all that I’d learned.
But I’d downplayed my walk in the garden with Fenyx, leaving out the touches, the full ferocity of the demands that had been made.
Even so, I suspected that Draven had read between the lines.
“I do, too,” he said darkly, stroking my hair as if he found it just as soothing as I did. “It would mean you were safe.”
“I’m not... unsafe.”
