Page 115 of Suncatcher

“You did. And I killed people too. Bruises heal. Let me show you.” She undid the buttons on her waistcoat and her blue pinstripe shirt. It was the same one Pearl had worn the very first time they met. But Driz forgot about the fabric as it left Pearl’s body.

The shadows of marks still mottled her skin, but they were more faint.

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for,” Pearl breathed. “Even if I bruised every time you touched me, I’d still reach for you.”

Driz felt the same way about Pearl’s touch. But… “Why?”

“Because you’re worth it. It was never about the bruises, like it was never about the words. It’s about what they mean. I got these because you were trying to save me, not hurt me. That makes all the difference. And because I love you.”

Driz must have misheard her.

“I love you, Driz.” Pearl grabbed Driz’s wrists and placed her hands over Pearl’s bare breasts. “Won’t you touch me? Not because I’m avoiding talking. We’ll definitely do that. But I can’t stand to go another night without feeling you against me. Please.”

The sensation of Pearl in her palms jumbled Driz’s brain. The sound that escaped her was unfamiliar. But she pulled away, still afraid of herself.

Pearl sighed. “Then may I touch you?”

Her hands slid up Driz’s shoulders. One wrapped around the nape of her neck, the other furrowing into her hair.

“Is this alright?” Pearl asked. “Tell me. I need you to say it, or I’ll stop.”

“Yes,” Driz managed.

Pearl smiled, her teeth glinting before she claimed Driz’s lips. Driz gave in, kissing her back.

Pearl’s mouth traveled to her cheekbone and up to her brow, and then she tugged Driz’s head lower so she could run her lips along Driz’s horn.

Driz shuddered, and when Pearl replaced her lips with her tongue, her wings snapped.

Pearl lavished the right horn, and then the left. Driz’s breathing increased with each pass of Pearl’s lips, each lap of her tongue, the need to touch Pearl excruciating.

Pearl pressed her mouth to Driz’s ear as her fingers ran down Driz’s stomach. “Let’s fly.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere. Nowhere. As long as you take me with you, I don’t care.”

As Driz closed her arms around Pearl’s back, more of her fear eased. They’d done this before. They could do it again. Driz was in control of herself as the night bloomed around them, and she opened her wings.

She would give Pearl whatever she required.

Pearl’s grip on her horn tightened and Driz thought she might crumble to dust from the pleasure of it. She flew higher, where the moon and the stars welcomed them.

Driz looked into Pearl’s eyes. Pearl was smiling. There was no fear in her.

“Do you still want me to bite you every night?” Pearl whispered. “Because I plan on it.”

“Yes.”

Pearl grinned. And she bit her.

Driz shuddered with bliss, her wings closing, sending them into a freefall. Pearl’s hand didn’t stop this time, her teeth still clamped over Driz’s skin.

Trust, and surrender. Driz convulsed as the pleasure raced through her limbs, from the tips of her horns to her toes.

She snapped open her wings at the last moment, guiding them to a hilltop, laying Pearl down carefully.

Driz panted, twitching and wrung out. Pearl’s chest was rising and falling with her own breath, eyes wide. Driz forgot about her doubts. How could she doubt that look?