For a moment, she just looks at me, her expression hazy with sleep. Then something shifts in her face, softening—not with fear, not with hesitation, but something else entirely. Something I don’t deserve.
She doesn’t speak.
She doesn’t need to.
Instead, she lifts the edge of the cover, wordlessly inviting me in.
I break.
The tension, the fight, the barely restrained control—I let it all go.
I just move.
The mattress dips as I slide in beside her, my body still damp from the shower, my skin burning where it brushes against hers.
I don’t know what to do with my hands, my arms, my shadows.
Then she shifts closer. Presses against me. And everything in me stills.
I exhale a ragged, shuddering sound.
Her eyes are on me. Studying, searching—burning away the dark and cold with those scarlet fires.
I don’t look away. I can’t.
She leans in, so slowly, like she already knows I’ll break for her. Like she’s waiting for it.
Her lashes flutter shut.
Her lips brush mine.
Barely.
Just a whisper of her warmth—of mercy.
I—
I melt into her.
I’m a shattered thing begging to crumble beneath her touch. Tear me apart. Eradicate me.
My hands seek out the warmth of her skin, anchoring myself to the only thing that’s felt real for centuries—her.
I’ve been so cold for so long.
My mouth moulds to hers, answering her kiss with slow, hungry movements. It all burns. Goddesses, it burns so pleasantly.
I tilt my head, deepen the kiss, my shadows curling around her, clinging to her skin, I’m just so desperate for her.
I want more. I’ll always want more.
And when we part, she doesn’t leave. Her lips linger against mine as her darkness unfurls, surrounding me, seeping into my skin, pulling me even closer.
She wantsmecloser.
And for a second, I forget what I am, with her head against my chest and her heat engulfing me.
When does a monster stop being a monster? Maybe when she touches it like it’s not.
