“This cave seems like a good place to lay low for a while. Might take more than a few minutes to regain our strength, though.” His voice came out strained, rough.
Dom studied me, his penetrating stare as thick as his shadows. The air between us grew charged.
I busied myself with folding the rag. He assessed his body. His veins webbed darkly against his ashen skin. “Where’s all the blood?”
“I washed it off.” I shrugged one shoulder. “There hadn’t been much to clean.”
He scoffed. “I decapitated a Nokt and held you while your leg bled out. I think that’s an understatement.”
“Not much more of a mess than you normally look.” His responding dark chuckle echoed in our confined space, the strength of his voice easing some of my concern over his physical state.
I couldn’t suppress my weak attempts at humor. It allowed me to maintain some semblance of emotional distance. I blamed the cold for my shivering. Yet, even I could not deceive myself enough to avoid the truth of it. The fear of fully embracing hope and emotions I had spent years separated from chafed against me. My awakened feelings at the revelation of his blood poisoning scared me most of all.
There was little to do while we rested, reclining in comfortable silence as the sun descended. The realization of the dropping temperature slammed into us both, entombed as we were within a cave of ice. Dom carefully stretched his aching body, our eyes locking. I broke his stare, suddenly aware of all my limbs.
“It will get cold and we don’t have many supplies.” He peered upward toward the cave’s ceiling with its waning light. His lips twitched and his dimple briefly appeared. “I have an idea for heat if you’re willing.”
Heat filled my face. Oh, my traitorous body was definitely willing.
“Body warmth is the best we can do since we don’t have enough blankets,” he continued clinically.
I nodded.
He took my nonverbal assent and sat forward, removing his cloak and tunic. His abs glistened in the glow of the glacial cavern, highlighting every ripple of hard muscle, every cut and bruise from our tussle with the Nokt. His loose-fitting pants hung low enough to showcase the V-shaped muscles at his waist.
This is for self-preservation only.Turning away, I removed the cloth tourniquet on my thigh, carefully extending my injuredleg. I peeled off my filthy clothes. My tunic and leathers fell into a heap on the floor. My lavender silk chemise, which served as my undergarments, barely reached mid-thigh. It clung unrelentingly to all of my curves. I didn’t trust myself to get completely naked, and the silk left little of my body to the imagination.
I retied the cloth over my wound, hoping it wouldn’t become infected before we made it to Vorkut. Dom froze when I straightened. His eyes slowly, painstakingly, devoured my form before collecting himself.
“So we don’t freeze to death,” I forced out.
“For the greater good,” he imperiously responded.
He lay back, beckoning me to do the same. A part of me wanted to resist, should have in fact. But another part awakened at the image of this beautiful man before me. He had only ever offered me choice and protection. Even now, he didn’t force me one way or another. His broad shoulders took up most of the space, and I knew I was the missing puzzle piece that would fit perfectly against his chest. A mixture of grief and desire braided through my chest.
I knelt down, easing my back against his welcoming body. Our breaths synced as his warm hand roved to my waist, slowly circling around my body, gently pulling me flush against him.
“Is this okay?” he whispered.
“Dom…” My voice cracked. His body stilled at my hesitant tone. “What about Xuri?” I resisted arching into him further. My soul craved his touch. A deep wanting breached the surface of my carefully constructed shields. But I couldn’t play pretend any longer. The haunting jealousy of what I’d witnessed between them plagued me. I had to know. I was grateful I faced away from him, conserving what little dignity I had left.
His thumb resumed tracing circles at my waist. His warm voice ruffled my hair. “Xuri is like a sister to me. Nothing more.”He wrapped me further into his arms, his magic spilling over us. “And you arenothinglike a sister. You are so much more. You are the thoughts that keep me awake at night, the power that calls to my own. You are the water that quenches my soul. You are who the Great One foretold. Who I knew in part and drew from visions, but now I see in full. And you are everything beautiful.”
His breath disarmed any remaining resistance, soft and warm against my neck. The urge to have his powerful hands on my body, around my throat, consumed my mind.
Relief suffused me. I could have wept.
“Li—Rue?”
Why did his voice have to be so delicious? “Yes?”
“How did you become Ruin?”
Tensing, I turned around to face him, his hold on my waist loosening.
“What happened that night?”
I stared up at a small patch of ice. My nerves attuned to the heat of Dom’s body, so close to my own. What would it be like to surrender this part of my past to another? My breath quickened into shallow sips of air. Some secrets held their own form of death magic, infecting from deep within.
