Page 95 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
My heart nearly leaps out of its cage when his large, tattooed hand shifts from his abdomen to lie atop mine. His other arm effortlessly drags me closer, against his side. Something inside me instantly melts.
Despite the potion I’d dosed him with, and knowing there’s no possible way I could have woken him up, my eyes leap to his closed ones. After a few heart-thundering moments, I convince myself that he’s deep asleep and will never witness this weak, vulnerable moment where I’m holding onto him like my sanity depends on it.
With my hand sandwiched between his heart and his hand, I inch even closer until my leg is draped over his and my core is pressed wet against his thigh. I’m unable to deny myself thisguilty pleasure, no matter how many alarm bells go off in my mind, screaming for me to abandon him to Terrenea and save my heart before he breaks it.
I’ve never been held by a male in such a way since Lucen. A fact that I resent. The sheer tenderness of being touched like this is enough to make me shatter.
How sad is it that such a small, inconsequential gesture can have such an overwhelming effect on me?
Tears brimming, my mind conjures all the things that could be.
All the affection I’ve been denied, and forbidden myself over the years.
How wonderful it would be to be held in his arms, to have his gaze wash over me not merely with lust but with love and adoration. Reverence even.
What might it feel like to be cherished and protected?
The fact that I’m more than capable of protecting myself, and have spent my entire adolescence and adulthood doing so, is irrelevant.
Squeezing my eyes shut, tears stream down my cheeks as I draw in a quiet, trembling breath.
These are dangerous, addictive thoughts, Violette.
My mother no doubt longed for the same fantasy. Which is exactly what it is. Fantasy. The stuff of lore,an angry voice inside me scolds.
Since Lucen, I’ve yet to meet a male whose touch I truly desired. Now that I’ve found one, I can’t fathom being without it.
Without him.
Thoughts of his mortality, his potential betrayal, and the irrational thought my father might find him and use him against me are already long gone—ash on the wind beneath the heat of his touch.
Thetha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thumpof his heart is a sound I find more soothing than the sea.
Just a few minutes like this, masked in shadow and the twilight of morning.
LEVI
The afternoon’s light shines between the cracks of Violette’s heavy, dark green drapes, revealing the forested view beyond. Every facet of her bedroom is designed to mimic nature. Even the legs of her nightstands end in delicately carved vines that reach all the way up to a tree-shaped lantern. Her furniture is made almost exclusively of intricately carved wood, glass, stone, or marble in warm, earthen tones. Being the covert Lord of the Rings nerd that I am, it reminds me of Rivendell.
It’s clear she’s put her heart and soul into this place. I can’t help but wonder what other beauty she’d add to the world if given the right support—the right partner—to further flourish. She’s put so much love into her home; logic would tell me that she’d put that same care and effort into anyone or anything she loved.
Namely, me, if I allowed her to.
Inspired her to.
My eyes scan the room, as my dream bleeds back—vivid and intense—into the forefront of my sleep-hazed mind, half expecting to find Somnus and his enormous wings haunting a dark corner.
He isn’t, of course.
Though calling itjust a dreamfeels false. Especially when my reunion with my mother was so healing. When the peace I’d made with her and myself feels like a healing.
Even if I still can’t bring myself to give in to thissoulbondbetween us.
All of it is too beautiful.
Too surreal.
Like having this seemingly divine creature in my arms and her tail wrapped needily around my thigh.
