Page 60 of Against All Odds

The whimper left my throat before I could stop it – pathetic, helpless, so unlike me.

“I’m scared.” The confession left my mouth as if it had a will of its own. “I’m scared of fire, Raya. I’ve been scared of it all my life.”

“It’s okay.” Taking both of my hands, Raya forced me to look at her. Ironically, I had been protecting her all this time, but now the roles were finally reversed. “I know you’re scared, but we’ll get through this, okay? It’s only temporary. I’m with you, and I won’t let you go.”

I couldn’t talk, so I only nodded in response. I squeezed her hands so firmly, I almost feared they might break, but she didn’t even flinch – she held on to them, gaze never leaving mine. We stayed like that, locked, intertwined, even when the ground underneath us split open and the smoke consumed us, engulfing us until we could no longer breathe and the air turned scorching. And amidst the flames, we still held on to each other – and I knew that no matter what, neither of us would let go.

Epilogue

Raya

The pain left my body first, then my head. I opened my eyes, expecting we were in for another undefined time sequence of torture – but instead, the white was so bright, it nearly blinded me.

I blinked a few times as the room shimmered into vision. White sheets, white walls, golden sunbeams tickling my skin through semi-transparent cream curtains.

My breath quickened as I stared up at the sky, where tall walls and golden pillars ended in bright clouds – and I realized the sunlight didn’t come through the window; it came from above.

How much time had we spent down there? Days, weeks, months? I tried to recall what had happened, but just as Jurrian had said, the memories of the lower realm already started to fade with every passing second. I remembered unbearable heat and a sense of dread – and even that now seemed like a bad dream. Like waking up after a blackout, but without the hangover, the anxiety, and the shame.

The thing about the lower realm was that it consisted of two things: pain and fear. The pain was not something we could control, but the fear was. Early in my life, I’d learned to control my fear by dissociating, retreating to a far corner of my mind and hiding until it was over – just like I’d hidden behind the closet in my childhood. Without fear, the lower realm was just pain, and pain was familiar. Pain was something that would pass, something I could get through. I remembered repeating it to myself like a mantra. This is temporary. We are together. We will get through this.

Seren’s mind worked differently. My brow furrowed as I struggled to hold on to the memories of her crying and shivering in my arms as the flames licked at us, but with every second that passed, they too slipped from my fingers. Just like in our mortal lives, our brains were still wired to protect us, it seemed. There would be no more pain, and we no longer needed the fear.

But something else was different, I realized with a shock. The heaviness that had marked my life on Earth had been lifted off my shoulders. I’d carried it for so long that I couldn’t even imagine myself without it. Tears clouded my vision at the realization I’d left it in the lower realm, where it belonged.

I turned my head, and my breath caught when I saw her. Seren was sleeping beside me, her sleek, raven hair spread out over the white pillow, her arms and legs draped over the cream sheets, her naked body for the most part hidden by the sheets.

I’d wanted to die for as long as I could remember. But now, without the heaviness, with her by my side? Suddenly, eternal afterlife didn’t seem so bad anymore.

Pushing myself up on one elbow, I stared at the sleeping woman beside me – an angel if I had ever seen one. For a moment, I wanted to let her sleep; she looked so peaceful. Her usually tight jaw relaxed, her alert eyes closed, her chest rising and falling softly. But as I traced a finger over her forehead, down the bridge of her nose, then down over her crimson lips, they parted slightly. With a groan, she rolled over onto her back. I watched with fascination as those misty blue eyes blinked open and she stared up at the ceiling just as I had, the fear fading from them with every second.

“Seren,” I whispered, emotions choking my voice. “It’s over.”

She slowly turned to look at me, dazed, as if she wouldn’t allow herself to believe it – not yet.

After a brief hesitation, I leaned in to press my lips against hers.

I wasn’t sure what she’d do. Though my memories from the lower realm were fading fast, I knew we had never left each other’s side. I remembered squeezing her hand, wiping her tears, holding her close to me – but any intimacy beyond that was the furthest thing from our minds while we were burning. And yet, as soon as our lips met, hers closed around mine. I shivered when her long arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer with a determination that surprised me. We stayed like that for what could have been minutes – lips locked, limbs intertwined.

When she finally pulled away, her pale cheeks colored with something adorably close to embarrassment. “I, ehm, didn’t handle that well, did I?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “We were in Hell, Seren. No one handles that well.”

She turned to look at me as my finger traced the bridge of her nose again. She was so divinely beautiful – I couldn’t wait to draw her every day. My pulse quickened at the thought of painting her naked. Would she be willing to pose for me like that?

“You did,” she said, interrupting my drifting imagination.

“I wasn’t handling life well.” I shrugged. “Now, we’ve both seen each other at our worst…” I paused, carefully locking eyes with her. “And I still want you.” I hesitated, trying not to ask the question. “Do you, ehm, still want me? We haven’t really had the chance to talk… since our last conversation got interrupted by the demon who—”

She smothered my sentence by wrapping her arms around me and pulling me into a deep kiss, so fierce, pleasant little flames licked all over my skin.

“You’ve got to stop doubting yourself like that,” she murmured against my lips, a sultry undertone in her voice that was new to me. “Or else I’m going to take you up on that punishment.”

I almost choked on air. My heart skipped a beat, pumping blood right to my cheeks. “Punishment?” my dumb mouth coughed up.

“Hm hm.” She nodded, her sharp gaze settling on my lips so intensely, I thought she could set me on fire with those eyes alone. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

I swallowed thickly, struggling to put the unrequited images out of my mind. Unfortunately, I was a very visual thinker, and my horny brain immediately threw up the visual of her pinning me against the wall, hands above my head, her thigh between mine—