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“Althia, I love you too. You have no idea just how long I’ve been wanting to tell you. I thought you were gone, that you were never going to know how I felt… But it’s all over now.”
“Come here,” I tell him, pulling his face closer.
Our lips meet in a passionate embrace. Our tongues dance as if it’s their final time together, afraid to part from one another. In between our kisses are further proclamations of love, and it goes on like that for what seems like hours, but they’re the greatest hours of my life.
Only when Nexus jumps up on the bed to lick my hand do we stop, laughing at the fact. When it dies down, Valkus takes my hands into his.
“Althia, nothing like this is ever going to happen again. I mean it for real this time.”
“I know you do, but you’ve got to let go of the guilt. What happened with Yiosha wasn’t your fault in the slightest. You trusted her to take care of me. She did just that in her own sick and twisted way.”
I start unbuttoning his shirt.
“You’ve always gone out of your way to stand up for me, as far back as when that man tried to assault me. I knew I found someone special in you. Do you realize what you’ve done for me?”
“What’s that, my love?”
The look in his eyes seems like I have him totally mesmerized, and I’m enjoying every second of it.
“You made me believe that true love exists,” I say, almost choking on the rush of emotions flowing through me. “I would have called someone crazy if they told me a dashing artist would come to sweep me up in the middle of the night and take me back to his glorious manor.”
I run a hand over Valkus’ bare chest as he smiles.
“I feel at home with you here. I know life has been… hectic, to say the least, but I know tomorrow will be the beginning of forever with you. Even if your parents don’t want me around, there’s not a damn thing they, or anyone for that matter, can do to stop me from sharing my life with you.”
“Oh Althia,” he moans, pulling me in for a kiss, after which he brings his lips to my ear. “I never wish to be without you ever again. Of all the luxuries and material riches I have, none of it can compare to the most valuable part of my life, which is being you.”
My heart leaps with joy as he embraces me once more. Our hands run over each other’s bodies, removing each garment of remaining clothing.
Soon, we’re wrapped in one another’s grip. I breathe a sigh of relief as he kisses my neck, knowing I’ll get many chances each day to tell him how he makes me feel, but right now, I have my mind on other things.
I cup his face and lift it up to meet his penetrative gaze.
“I missed the way you kissed me. Did you miss it, too?” I ask softly.
“I thought I would never get to relish your body again.”
“Then show me and do all that you thought you would never do again.”
27
ALTHIA
Valkus lowers his head, gently skating his lips across mine. Too gently to chase out the thoughts that continue to whirl through my mind.
I can still remember Yiosha’s screams. And the evidence of her death being cleaned up just a few feet away from me.
I do not feel pity or regret. Instead, I just feel safe.
I know that eventually, I’ll completely forget about Yiosha and the violence of her death. And I don’t know what that makes me.
Maybe it makes me bloodthirsty. Maybe it makes me evil.
Maybe, after all this time, I am twisted up inside. Maybe all the years of poverty and backbreaking work ripped the good parts of me away from who I am now.
I don’t know.
What I do know, what I am certain of, is that I feel safe. And I have found a man who is willing to kill to make sure I feel safe.
