Page 75 of When Day Breaks

"Maybe he saw the monster I'm seeing right now. Likable, but not loveable. I should have let him have you that night." I falter,my hand slipping from his chest as I try to comprehend how he could be so cruel.

"Take it back," I beg, trying not to let the threat of tears spill from my eyes.

"No," he taunts, pulling me further under the frenzy that wracks my bones, my mind spinning at the memory of what my father had done.

"Take it…" I try to get the words out but choke, stumbling backward and he creeps in, closing in on my space.

"You want me to tell you that you didn't deserve his hate?" His taunts echo in my head as I cower to the corner, pleasing for him to stop. "You want me to say that he should have never laid his filthy hands on you because you did nothing wrong to be a victim to his own insecurities?" I look up, confusion twisting in my eyes and fear settling over me.

I see the look of regret form on his face and his eyes are now calm to the storm they were before.

I can't breathe.He was just playing with me?

"Little one…" his tone rings sincerity as he watches me put it together. The curse feeling diminished to his taunts and torturous reminders of where I come from.

"How could you?" I ask with pain steeped in my words. It is etched in every fiber of my being, forced to unravel as he used his tactic to subdue the shadow within.

"I am so fucking sorry," he pleads as he moves in, coming to my side while I allow my walls to wither away, crumbling at the realization that I had been overcome by my darkness—the lavender curse—and he used the one thing he knew would sting to bring me back.

"You…" I can't piece together my thoughts. Am I thankful he took the risk or mad that he had the balls to be so vile to me?

He brushes his thumb over my cheek, not breaking eye contact as he stares nearly into my soul. Worry crests in his expressionand it provides me with some kind of relief but the pain is still there.

"I had to get you back. I-" He dips his head to my forehead and holds us together. Our hearts beat in tandem and I let him have this moment because I'm too weak to fight it otherwise.

"Ineedyou back," he whispers against my lips. "I need my wife. My queen." He looks back up to me, sincerity apparent in his words and in his eyes.

He moves his hand to place his palm against my cheek, his thumb now swiping against my chin and my bottom lip, back and forth as he continues, "I want to watch your silhouette against the sunrise in the morning as you undress for me. I want you to sink your teeth into me, light my skin on fire with your touch.Fuck, Cyn, you are a slow poison seeping into my lungs and I feel a rush whenever I'm near you. I forget who I am and what I stand for."

I don't have the words to respond as I take in every sentiment he feeds me, accepting his words as truth in place of the ones he filled my head with moments before.

"I know you aren't any version of evil. You have pulled me out of my own dark hell and I can't fucking breathe without you." His timbre shakes with need, an understanding that we are the only ones who can pull each other out of the darkness we fall into.

I lift my head to speak to him, telling him a truth I've always known.

"I was never naive enough to believe that I was worthy of being your hero, Rivian. But there is light in you." I let my words wash over him.

He sighs into my lips, so close to touching that it's painful. Painful to know that we found ourselves once again in the battle of our own hearts, using each other as bait to prove just how much we might mean to one another.

I didn't even think to have awareness of having an audience watch us fall into each other but as I let my eyes glance over, I see that we've been left alone.

"Youarethe light. I know who you are in your heart, Lucynda. You are worthy of love and so much more. You are worthy of everything you've ever wanted, who you want to be." He finally pulls me in, this moment escaping between us in a tangle of need and passion born out of war and blood.

His lips hold mine, the warmth igniting deep against my soul. I grip to him, clutching whatever I can grab onto as we sink into this moment, letting everything go.

He pulls away gently, opening his eyes to me; letting me see all that he is as he whispers against my mouth.

"I love you." It's the anguish that laces his confession, the passion that forms deep from the meaning of what he just said that causes my heart to stagger.

"You…" I stutter, unsure of what to say as I let his words echo in my heart.

"I love you. I always have," he admits lowering his voice as my body aches with need. "I'm sorry I was too much of a coward to let you believe otherwise."

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carousal

Rivian

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