Page 89 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
I attempt to keep my features neutral, even if she did just ignite my boyish glee. “Translation?”
“It’s a concoction of my own making. One that will help you sleep deeper than you thought possible, heal whatever ailments you have currently burdening your fragile human form, ease your fears—if only for the night—balance and realign your energy centers, cleanse your aura, and sever any unhealthy energetic cords currently binding you to another.”
Holy fuck.
“Are there any side effects?”
“That all depends on you, and how much healing your body, mind, and spirit need, how many cords need cutting, how out of balance your energy centers are, and what will come to haunt your subconscious when you sink into the deep sleep you’ll enter.”
Whatever excitement and awe I’d felt a moment ago is replaced by the grim realization that tonight, everything I’ve spent my life burying is going to be set free.
When I vocalize no protest, she gives me a strange look, shaking her head.
“How is it that you’re okay with all this? That you’re not trying to escape? Why are you so calm?”
I huff a laugh. “Oh no, whatever shall I do? The most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on—a woman that never in a million years would I have dared to imagine—calls me her soulmate?—”
“—soulbound,”she corrects.
“—a woman with a determination, courage, skill, and ingenuity I can’t even begin to grasp,” I add, nodding to her laboratory, “who can summon portals, wield magic, andheal me…wants to kidnap me? Wants to take me to her fantastical world? Wants anything to do with me?”
A glistening in her eyes takes me by surprise and softens my words.
“Poor me. How will I ever survive?”
Violette’s chest swells on a deep inhale as the harshness in her expression eases. Several moments of silence pass between us. It’s mildly awkward because I’m still naked. The more she stares at me, the more I feel her peeling back all my many layers. Examining all the parts of myself that had become calloused, and the ones I’ve buried so deeply that even I’d forgotten them.
Like this newfound wonder I haven’t felt since the first time I’d seen my favorite fantasy or sci-fi films.
I’ve been numb for so fucking long; I hadn’t even realized what I’ve become.
For more than two decades, I’ve been a shell. A husk. An automaton in a world of gray, meting out violence and death while praying for vengeance.
And Violette is the technicolor dream I’d never dared to hope for.
Her words seem to reverberate from my soul.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
My mother’s words echo in my mind.
“Sal... One day, I pray to fucking God you find a love like me and your father’s because anything less just isn’t worth it. When you do, you’ll understand why finding happiness without him isn’t possible.”
The knot of emotion in my chest feels like cement. “I’m terrified.”
Her brows pinch as her eyes continue to roam over me as if searching for everything I’m not saying.
She brings the vial to my mouth, and I obediently part my lips. Hesitating, she shakes her head in disbelief.
“This could be poison, Levi. Don’t you have any sense of self-preservation?”
My heart pinches at the addictive sound of my name on her lips. Even if it’s not my real first name. “You’ve already had about a hundred opportunities to gut me like a fish if that’s what you wanted.”
She frowns with dissatisfaction. The sight causes something inside me to wilt. Finally, she tips the vial into my mouth. A subtle, sweet, earthy flavor blossoms on my tongue and travels down my throat without me even having to swallow. It’s an altogether startling sensation. Like the liquid has a mind of its own. The path it takes leaves a soft tingling warmth in its wake before disappearing.
Violette’s head tilts as she studies my reaction.
When I voice no complaint, her slender palm cups my cheek, eyes momentarily searching mine.
