Page 91 of Inflamed By an Incubus

Loved her.

She stared at him, warmed by his soft look, by the way he continued to stroke her arm, attempting to soothe her. She didn’t bother stopping him or pointing out he was breaking his own rules. She savoured his caress, clung to the warmth he made her feel, and the feelings he stirred in her.

There was no point in her trying to hate Fenix or guarding her heart against him. It wouldn’t change anything.

She had already fallen for him.

She had died.

Only she hadn’t been reborn.

And that gave her hope.

Maybe the curse would never bother her again. If she died and was reborn, she might remember Fenix. She might not be whisked away from him and her memories stolen from her. She clung to that, because the thought of dying was frightening enough, but the thought of not remembering anything terrified her. Coming around and not knowing who she was, where she was, had been incredibly hard on her and had taken her a long time, and years of counselling, to get over.

She didn’t want to go through that again.

She didn’t want to forget.

“Come on. Down we go.” Fenix’s hand slipped from her arm and he moved towards the wall, causing the lift to sway beneath her.

Her stomach swayed with it.

“Can you move a little more… I don’t know… gently?” she hissed and clung to the roof of the lift, had to breathe deeply to stop herself from vomiting all over it.

“No.” He made it to the wall and she wanted to call him on the fact he was back to being an arsehole again.

Trying to make her hate him.

She lined up the words to tell him her theory, sure he would laugh his backside off, but the lift began to rise upwards.

“Fuck.” Fenix lunged for her and hauled her to him, leaped the small gap to a ladder she feared wouldn’t hold both of their weights, and pinned her against it.

He forced her to grip the rung in front of her, curling her hands around it, and covered them with his as his front pressed to her back. She squeezed her eyes shut and told herself that she was going to be fine, that he was going to be fine, as mechanical whirrs and clunks filled the heavy silence. Fenix pressed closer to her, shielding her with his body as the carriage moved past them.

“You okay, sweetheart?” he murmured into her ear, back to being gentle and tender again, and she swore she could feel the concern in him.

Maybe this connection they shared worked both ways and in time she would be able to use it as he did, detecting shifts in his mood.

Her breath leaked from her as she sank into the ladder, the tension draining from her as the lift rumbled into the distance and it hit her that they hadn’t been killed by it.

“No,” she whispered and wrapped her arms around the ladder, clinging to it even though Fenix had a tight hold on her and she knew he wouldn’t let her fall. “I can’t move. Please don’t make me move.”

His left hand dropped to her waist, sending an electric thrill over her skin, and he eased his arm around her stomach.

“You never did have a head for heights. Not going to make you climb down, love.” His breath tickled her neck as his cheek brushed her nape. “I can teleport us from here.”

Darkness whirled around her before she could say anything to stop him from using up more of his strength and she almost crumpled as her boots hit solid ground. Fenix’s grip on her kept her upright and she was thankful as he held her, as she looked at him and found a soft edge to his eyes, no trace of judgement in them. She had always hated looking weak, and she had never felt as weak as she did right that moment. Her legs were noodles beneath her, barely able to hold her weight.

When Fenix looked up the height of the shaft, she glanced there too, peered into the darkness and tried to make out where the lift was. The thought that it might come down again had her legs steadying beneath her and a desire to get moving rolling through her.

Fenix seemed to sense it because he loosened his grip on her and eased back. “You good?”

She nodded and he released her, went to the lift doors and prised them open with his bare hands. He jerked his chin towards them as he held them open and she hurried through, pulling herself up onto the floor that was at waist height to her. She turned and pressed her hands to the doors, holding them for Fenix. He glanced at her and she nodded to let him know that she had them, and he crawled through.

Evelyn eased them towards each other, until they were a few inches apart, and then released them.

Fenix had already moved, was standing with his back to her, facing a gloomy corridor. The dark grey-blue walls were lit at intervals, but the few lights weren’t enough to brighten the place. She pushed to her feet and moved to stand beside Fenix, her pulse racing again as she considered what he had told her.

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