Page 195 of The Doll and The Domination

I gasp before letting my cry unleash from my chest.

And this beautiful man doesn’t waste another moment. He curls his body around mine, careful not to hurt me. His giant hands cradle my head to his chest, spreading his body heat over me like a thick blanket.

“You won’t leave me behind,” I sob.

Warrose nuzzles his face in my curly hair, sighing softly against my scalp. “I’ll never leave you behind.”

53. What Comes Later

Marilynn

Niles sits by himself in the stadium, hunched over his knees with his hands tightening in his hair.

I plant myself in the seat next to him in the first row that faces the stage. He leans back in his chair, noticing my presence with a quick glance.

“How’re you holding up?” I ask.

Niles shrugs in defeat.

“You can talk about it,” I say in a softer voice. “I know you’re not one to bottle up what you’re thinking.”

“You want to know one of the first conversations I ever had with Skylenna in the asylum?” He stares off into the distance of the mocking red stage. Eyes unfocused and sad.

“Tell me.”

“We talked about soulmates. And how once you find them, there is no life without them.”

“Right.”

“Well…I’ve now watched my sister grieve through the death of her soulmate, burying him, avenging him, loving him even when his heart no longer beat. And now? Now, I watch as she loves her soulmate who feels nothing but hatred for her.” He balls his hands into fists. “And Dessin has done nothing but love her fiercely through her amnesia. Protected her friends. Kept us safe. How is any of this fair?”

“It’s not.”

“And what about Ruthie? I’m supposed to accept that my best friend will never walk again? Never be able to run in the early morning the way she did when we’d make camp in the forest? She doesn’t deserve this fate!”

I turn my head to look at him as he crosses his arms, shaking his head while working out his grief. Exhaustion darkens the spaces under his eyes like smeared charcoal. His skin has lost its stunning golden glow.

We have to get out of here.

“You can’t give birth in this prison, Marilynn.”

I meet his hardened stare with the vertical wrinkle in between his brows. It’s this no-bullshit look that seems to float deeper and deeper into my heart like a leaf drifting in the wind.

“We’ll get out before then,” I assure him.

At least, I think we will. There are a lot of details missing from the prophecy. I assume it’s to make certain meaningful events happen at the right time.

“And once we’re out?” he prompts.

“Once we’re out, I’ll raise him in Demechnef.”

“It’s a boy?”

Damn, I’m not sure if I should have kept that to myself.

“The prophecy says it will be a boy.”

Niles doesn’t move for several seconds. “I suppose Aurick will be happy he’s having a son. An heir.”

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