Page 9 of SIN Bone Deep

“Oh, thank you,” his wife said as she joined him, holding the hand of their other child. “Kimberly is forever dropping Boo-Boo.”

“Yeah,” the man said with more reserve. “Thanks.”

“It’s fine,” I smiled tightly and hurried on, feeling his eyes following me.

“Jason, how rude!” His wife chastised him under her breath.

“She’s one of them Vossens,” he replied in explanation.

I blew out a breath, used to the response, and did not let it break my stride as I crossed the marble-paved hall to the bronze mailboxes, using the family key to open our box, setting my weight against its reluctance to turn until it clicked over, and I could swing open the door to reveal its contents.

There was a pile of disordered crisp envelopes within the little pigeonhole, and I pulled them out, shuffling them in my grip. The hallway around me echoed hollowly off the marble. I slipped into the shadow of the nearest decorative column and sat on the edge of its square base to flick through the envelopes, holding them out to catch the light that spilled into the dark hallway from the main door.

My heart leaped at the first thick envelope from a familiar university. I opened it and took a moment to read the contents. It was an acceptance, but not a scholarship. Going there would be difficult as we did not have the money to pay the fees. I had to think about whether it was something that I could do, were I able to find a job. But an acceptance was still an acceptance. It was a positive start, and my heart stuttered in excitement as my future unfolded before me.

The next envelope took the wind out of my sails as it was a decline. My grades were not quite enough for their entry requirements considering the high competition of entries that year.

The next envelope held the seal of Pinegrove Academy, and my hands shook as I broke it. I unfolded the thick wad of paper and almost dropped it as I read the first line. “Congratulations on being the successful recipient of our Bishop Hargreave Scholarship Fund…” I could barely focus my eyes filling with tears as I realized the import of what I held.

“Oh god,” I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, sobbing in a breath around it.

“Good news?” Ender asked me, his voice barely more than a hoarse whisper as he stepped out of the deeper shadow and perched at my side, his shoulder on my shoulder and his thigh against mine. His long, elegant fingers were bone-white where they rested against the dark of his trousers, seeming to glow in contrast.

“What are you doing here?” I exclaimed in surprise.

“Waiting for you to join me,” his smile was slow and sultry.

“You’re joking,” I said, although I was not entirely certain of that. Had he followed me from the street? I felt my cheeks heat. In the dark shadows of the pillars, despite the echoes of voices and the movements of the post office patrons, we might as well be alone. It was intensely intimate in the way that he sat so close that the outside edge of his little finger where it rested on his thigh could almost be on mine…

“What have you there?” He asked me.

“I have been offered a full ride to Pinegrove,” I held the letter out in shaking hands and he took it from me, his eyes skimming the content.

“Congratulations,” he said softly. “That is quite an achievement.”

“It means I can study near my family,” I told him. “I don’t need to leave Mortensby.”

“Is not leaving important?” He wondered.

“Well… yes,” I looked up at him. The shadows of the pillar were no more helpful than those of night, casting his face into darkness so that I could only make out the line of nose, the curve of cheek, and the pout of lip... “I love my family, and this is my home… I want to live my life here, and be buried in its graveyard, as is traditional for Vossen wit-” I caught myself. “Women.”

“I am glad that this news pleases you.” He offered the letter back to me.

“Being with those who love you is important,” I folded the letter and returned it to its envelope. “Being with people who understand and know you.”

“I understand you,” his eyes were on my face, and for the first time, fully turned towards the light. He was handsome. It was not a surprise to me - I had known he would be. Still, he was not just handsome he was… arrestingly beautiful. His eyes were dark and the expression in them gentle, his lashes long and his brows straight. His cheekbones were high, his jaw strong and slightly stubbled, and his skin pale.

He let me look at him, his expression initially patient, but his eyes gradually shifting from warmth to a fire that cast embers alight within me. The smoke of my need stole my breath as the fire caught, the heat rising from the very core of me. My clit throbbed and my cunt ached. My body knew precisely what it wanted from him, and it knew that, at that moment, we shared intention and need.

He leaned towards me, and I lifted my face to his, my eyes already sifting closed in anticipation of the meeting of our lips, a sigh escaping me as I leaned in towards him, irresistibly drawn even within the dark of my closed eyes as if he were the flame to my moth.

“Nyx!” Fennel called out. “Elenyx!”

I jerked back, alarmed, my eyes shooting open. “Shit.”

I twisted around towards the light of the main door and could see Fennel silhouetted against it, the shape of her hat, veil, and dress distinct.

“Will I see you again?” I whispered. “Soon?”

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