“It matters little what happens after. For now, this is where I’ll be. With you.”
His decision broke her heart. He would stay with her for now, but the end result remained the same. Hewouldleave.
Eve shook her head. Her despairing mind finally registering the lines of pain bracketing his mouth, the paleness of his skin. But she couldn’t worry about that—couldn’t do this any longer.
“I know it’s what I asked for, a moment with you, but this…thisbondingchanges everything. It’s not enough anymore.”
His expression became stony.
Eve knew what he thought.You can’t trust a woman. Because here she is, changing the stakes again.But this was her life she was fighting for. “I stay with you a day longer, it will make it that much harder when you leave. I can’t live like that—”
“What are you saying?”
“I want a life—a family.”I need them…to forget you…to breathe again.“I want it all.”
“And who’s going to give that to you, Eve? You can't touch anyone—”
“You bastard.” Pain ripped through her. Eve backed away, felt as if her very foundation had fractured. He’d taken her heart, her feelings, and crushed them into shards with his callousness. Used the very thing that caused her so much hurt against her.
“Fuck!” He squeezed his eyes tight. “Eve, I’m—”
“No—” she cut him off. In a voice gone brittle with determination, she said, “I will accept David if he still wants me. Like you pointed out, my choices are limited.”
His rigid composure cracked. His eyes snapped open, blazing with savage fire. “That will never happen!”
“God, you're selfish! You don’t want me, and no one else can?”
“Don’t want you? You have no idea—” His mouth clamped shut. The vein on his neck pulsed so violently she half expected him to shake her. Instead, he stalked off, his fists crashing on the table, making her jump.
Inhaling an agonized breath, Eve turned away, pressed her hand to her chest as if it would ease her shattered heart. She only understood one thing; she had to find a way to move on. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t survive, not loving him the way she did
***
Chained to the wall for hours, his wrists were rubbed raw and blood dripped down his biceps. His body in a haze of pain from the barbed cat ’o nine tails whip she’d used this time.
Kalinin took pleasure in physical torture, relished in it.
His head hung low, his matted hair fell in dark hunks to block his view of the bitch watching him. She strolled closer. Fingers ran down his chest, digging into the grooves of torn flesh. “Say the words and all this will end—admit I’m your mistress.”
Reynner gritted his teeth, so the words wouldn’t tumble out. The whip cracked through the air and slashed him again, tearing through flesh. Unmitigated pain surged through him.
A silent scream trapped in his throat.
By all that was merciful, was there no way out of this endless pain?
Urias, end me…let me leave this hellhole.
Oblivion hovered. Elysium, their final resting place was just a heartbeat away.
“Oh, no, my dear Empyrean,” she cooed. “I won’t let you seek death. You are mine.”
She undid his chains, and he fell into the filth, his legs too weak to support him. She scored her wrist with her teeth and pushed the gushing wound to his lips. His stomach gnawed itself in hunger, but he turned his head away. The sludge from the floor coated his face. She grabbed him by his hair and forced the blood into his mouth, ignoring his sputtering.
The coppery taste slid down his parched throat, he gagged, but she held his head down. After a minute, she yanked his head up. “You want water? Say the words.”
He didn't speak. He no longer did. Blood dripping down his chin, he pulled his head free from her vicious grip, leaving behind a hunk of his hair. She ran the dull strands against her face, her expression filling with victory.
Despair constricted his chest. He couldn’t hold out much longer…she’d win.
