I’ve never cared what people thought of me before. And to be described as a monster? In any other context, I would have been pleased by the descriptor and beamed at the implications.
But Veil is notpeople.
And suddenly, the wordmonstertasted as foul as a handful of excrement.
“I wouldn’t want your apology in the first place,” I reply softly.
She’s still hiding in the crook of my neck, so I carefully pull her away, my hand slipping into the sleep-mussed hair near her nape while my thumb rests on her cheek.
As she watches me, her eyes are so wide that I’m almost convinced I can glimpse the entire universe between two blinks. Her throat works around a hard swallow, and I forget the very meaning of anger.
“Then what?” she whispers, her fingers slowly curling around my waist as she waits for an answer, her nails lightly digging into my warm skin.
I let the silence spill into all the cracks between us until the air is so thick with it that I have no choice but to speak. “I want your devotion, my beloved.”
Her cheeks flush, and my heart grows thrice the size.
“I want you to bare yourself so entirely to me that I can see every single atom that has the honor of creating the person I’m holding on to right now.”
I emphasize my words by tightening an arm around her waist and stroking her cheek with my thumb. Her mouth falls open, just enough for me to have to fight the urge to reach over and suck on her parted lips.
Her brown eyes turn misty, as if she’s barely containing the magnitude of her emotions.
Her voice is a near whisper when she speaks. “Give me time.”
I grit my teeth at her answer. “Again with that nonsense?” I retort. “Slave to something as trivial as the tick of a hand on the clock.” The grip I have on her face tightens. “Don’t you understand? We are beyond such a boorish construct. We exist outside the linear … do you notfeelit?”
Even though I yearn for her to agree, it still surprises me when she does.
“I do,” she says, her piercing gaze steadfast. Her pause is loaded, carrying as much weight as the next words out of her beautiful lips. “But if you can see our future so clearly, then why balk at allowing this simple ask?Please, Gem, for once, give me something without the price of a compromise.”
Her voice is strife with desire. It’s all-consuming, but nowhere close to being carnal. Instead, it’s bursting with aching melancholy, the tang of angst as tart as a large sip of wine down my throat.
I pull her into a kiss, a fleeting urge to know how such an emotion tastes on her lips. She melts into me, and I drag my thumb down under her chin to find her racing pulse. My tongue slips inside her mouth, finding hers, and our kiss deepens. Still, I can feel Veil holding back, and I know she’s waiting for my answer.
Reluctantly, I break our embrace, seeking her gaze once again. I idly lick my lips as we silently stare at one another, hoping I can still find the essence of her lingering there.
I smile softly and delicately trail my fingers down her bare arm before speaking.
“Time,” I rasp with a nod.
37
VEIL
I’m crawling out of my skin, pacing back and forth in front of the tall living room windows. Gemini left over an hour ago, needing to attend to some business in the city.
That’s not what’s bothering me.
It’s this growing tightness in my chest and the itch that seems to evade me anytime I try to find the source, crackling just under the surface of my skin.
At first, I thought the rising tension was because I was left alone and missing Gemini. The mere thought that could potentially be the reason had me rolling my eyes and repressing the feeling. But it’s been a few hours, and I am now certain that the two are unrelated.
I stop in my tracks and stare out the window, the large quarter moon hanging heavy above the harbor as I wring my hands incessantly and deliberate my next move.
It’s as if an invisible hand were reaching out from the shadows of Pravitia, beckoning me closer. Demanding I come ease the smarting ache.
I might not yet be fluent in my god’s tongue, but this is undeniable.
