Page 81 of Song of the Abyss

“I am.”

The words seared through him. Sometimes, the truth burned. It was worse than when he’d lost his arm, knowing that he was so terrified to touch her even when she lay on top of him and begged.

“Of me?” she asked.

“No.”

“Then what are you afraid of?”

He stared into those strange eyes and replied, “Of hurting you.”

Anya looked back at him, and he knew she stared into his very soul. Those blue orbs saw too much of him. In that look, she saw he was terrified of hurting her with his claws, his spines, with every bit of what he was. He could so easily tear into her flesh and for a long time, he’d thought that wasn’t fair.

Now he knew he wasn’t the only one with claws. Because with one word, she could break him. Snap him into a thousand pieces and shatter his soul into shards that dusted the sands of his home.

He’d given her that power. He had handed her the leash to his heart and now he couldn’t take it back.

“You won’t hurt me,” she whispered, using both of her hands to hold on to his face. “Do you know how I know this?”

“You cannot know that.”

“I do, though. I know you won’t hurt me because you don’t want to. And that is good enough for me.”

He stared up at this brave woman, and he wondered just how far she was willing to take this. “Then what are you proposing, my kalon?”

She licked her lips, that pink tongue flickering in a way that he wanted to follow. “Let me ease your pain, Daios. In whatever way I desire.”

Who was he to deny this siren? “Whatever you desire, Anya.”

Daios breathed her in, that citrusy smell that coiled around his heart and flooded his tongue with her flavor, and he wondered if this was what it felt like to fall in love.

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Anya

Anya was done trying to deny this. Whatever was between them, she intended to see it through.

They didn’t need any more words. She was so afraid if they said one more thing, she’d blurt out that she was in love with him. And that was insane.

She was a human. He was an undine. They were two very different creatures who shouldn’t be together. It shouldn’t even be possible that they were talking underwater, let alone what she was about to encourage him to do.

But she’d seen Mira and Arges together. She’d seen the way they looked at each other and it had made a part of her awaken and scream inside her chest. She wanted this.

She wanted him.

So it took so little effort to spread her legs wide around his thick waist and to kiss him. She didn’t know if undines even did this, but the last time he’d been very good at it. All she wanted was to feel him against her like they had in that facility where he had lost control for a few moments.

She wanted to know if that had been a mistake or if it had been real. She hoped it was real.

His hand at the back of her neck tightened, and she could feel the moment he let go of all his hesitation. One moment, he kissed her so softly, and the next, he devoured her.

With lips and tongue, teeth and sharp bites, he consumed whatever she gave him. Like he was trying to swallow her whole. Like he wanted to crawl inside her and never leave and in this moment she couldn’t think of a reason why he shouldn’t.

“What do you wish of me?” he said between kisses, and she could feel how restrained the words were.

He was holding himself back. Desperately trying to keep some chains around himself so he didn’t hurt her. But that wasn’t what she wanted.

She wanted him unleashed. She wanted to be overwhelmed in every sense with him. Just him. So she kissed him back, her tongue tracing the deadly points of his fangs, before she whispered, “I want all of it, Daios. I want to think of nothing else but you.”

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