This woman had been my reason—the reason I breathed, the reason I lived, the reason I fought for a future.
I devoured her, wrenching one orgasm after the other from her perfect body. Each time I took in the pleasure filled vision of her impaled on my cock, surrendering to me.
And fuck, I wanted to worship her body again and again and all over again.
I couldn’t stop myself. We kept going until we couldn’t.
I took her from behind one last time before we both collapsed on to the bed in a sweaty mess.
I held her close, skin-to-skin, my breathing ragged against hers.
When we calmed, I pulled out of her and she turned on her side to face me.
She reached up to touch my face, running her fingers along the scruff of my beard. In her eyes I saw…everything.
The hollow nothingness had long gone and instead of looking at me like she did before the reset, I saw so much more.
"I love you," she whispered, her voice carrying the weight of every emotion she'd been holding back. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, wide and earnest, like she was offering me her heart on open palms. She looked at me like I was her entireworld, like I was worth keeping, worth choosing, worth loving. And her walls were finally down.
“I loveyou.” I pressed my forehead to hers, savoring the moment. Savoring her.
I had her back, and I wouldn’t think of losing her again.
Even if it was inevitable.
I held her against my heart until we both fell asleep.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
Not the quiet dark of night.
This was thick. This was breathing. This was alive.
I walked through it, though I didn’t remember how I’d begun. Or how I’d gotten here.
Smoke and shadows curled around my boots, coiling up my legs, clinging to my skin like sweat. There was no ground beneath me. Only shadow layered upon shadow.
Was I back in Morgäven?
Or somewhere else.
Somewhere worse.
The darkness shifted below.
Then it split.
Hands reached up from the abyss, reaching for me.
Hundreds of them!
They burst from the void, fingers skeletal and slick with rot, knuckles cracked, nails blackened and broken. They reached upward in jerking, desperate motions, clawing at my ankles, my wrists, my throat.
A whisper rose from beneath me filled with many voice.
“Join us…”
The smoke thickened, pouring into my lungs. The hands tightened, dragging me downward inch by inch. Bone scraped against my skin and something sharp pierced through my ribs.
