Page 115 of Condemned By Pain
I slowly pull back to look at his face. It’s blank. His eyes are vacant, devoid of any emotion.
I cup his face in my hands. “Will you tell me?”
“They raped me and my mother.” The words are as empty as his eyes.
I hug him again. Breathing has become so difficult my lungs ache under the pressure. A loud sob bursts from me.
He pulls back and holds my crumpled, tear-streaked face.
“Don’t cry, Princess,” he breathes.
“My chest hurts.” The words hiccup out of me between sobs.
The pain won’t stop. It’s his—bleeding through me, suffocating me.
I press my face into his neck again. He holds me there.
After a long time, I finally get a grip on myself.
“Where are they?” I whisper.
“Nowhere. They’re all dead. Without graves.”
“You killed them?”
He hums in acknowledgment.
“But you’re still not free of it.” My voice weakens further.
“It won’t leave me.”
I pull back to search his face. “We could try therapy.”
“I’ve tried. It didn’t help.”
“Then what do I do?” My voice cracks. “I can’t watch you suffer.”
He presses his lips to mine. “Just stay.”
“That can’t be enough. I’ll find a way to help you through this.”
He smiles.
“How are you smiling after such a scary episode?”
“That was nothing new.” He cups my face in both palms. “But this is… someone who wants to fight my battles with me.”
I cradle his face in return. “I won’t let you lose a single one.”
He kisses me again. I slide my hands to the back of his neck. This time, it’s different. Long. Soft. Slow.A lover’s kiss.A broken whisper of two hearts beating in tandem.
“I love you, Elowen.” He whispers it against my lips.
“I love you too, Salvario.” I press the words into his mouth with another kiss.
I slide my tongue into his mouth. He welcomes it, sucking gently, tangling it with his own. I catch his lower lip between mine and suck, a little harder this time. His hands roam across my bare back, tracing every inch of my naked skin.
The kiss deepens into a ravenous war of mouths, a desperate theft of each other’s breath. His hardness presses against my ass, growing harder and harder until it feels like rock.
