Page 67 of Drenched

Rynar waited, standing at the water’s edge. The wind tugged at his dark form, the waves licking at his feet like they were calling him home.

His eyes found mine, endless and filled with something that made my throat tighten, hope, fear, love. A love that burned deep, but not deep enough to erase the shadows between us.

My steps were slow, like trudging through ice. Each one dragged me further from the wreckage behind me and closer to the wreckage inside me. The part that wanted him. The part that hated him. The part that didn’t know if I could ever forgive him or if I even wanted to try.

He stood there, still as stone. His claws trembled at his sides, his breath ragged, like he was bracing for a blow that would shatter him completely.

The wind howled between us, but neither of us moved. We were only feet apart, like an abyss stretched between us. An abyss too deep to cross. My chest ached, my ribs tight around a storm of grief, rage, and something else I couldn’t name. Something sharp and fragile.

His voice broke the silence, low and raw. “I let them go.”

My stomach twisted. “What?”

“The souls,” he rasped. “The ones I kept. The ones I trapped.” His eyes shimmered, silver tears welling up and spilling over, streaking his face like molten metal. “I released them before I came here.”

The words hung between us, brittle and cold. My heart pounded, each beat a hammer against my ribs. “Why?”

He swallowed hard, his throat working around the answer. “Because I was never meant to hold them. I thought their suffering made me stronger. I thought keeping them would fill the void inside me.” He shook his head, his voice cracking. “But it only made me hollow. A prison of my own making.”

His claws curled into his palms, his knuckles pale against his dark skin. “I was wrong. I was blind. And that blindness cost me everything. Costyoueverything.”

I couldn’t breathe. The air stuck in my throat, burning like acid. My fists clenched at my sides, nails biting into my palms. “You kept them. You trapped them, just like you trapped me.”

“Yes,” he whispered. The word was a confession, a blade slipping between my ribs. “I did.”

The rage inside me flared, hot and blinding. “And now you want what? Redemption? Forgiveness?”

His head bowed, his shoulders shaking. “No. I want nothing. I deserve nothing. I deserve to be forgotten. To be left in the dark, alone.”

He fell to his knees, the wet sand swallowing him up to his shins. The great Devourer, brought low. But it didn’t feel like justice. It didn’t feel like enough.

His claws dipped into the cold water, trembling. He lifted my foot, cradling it as though it might shatter. His breath came in short, broken gasps. “I don’t deserve to be worshipped,” he choked out, his voice ragged. “I deserve to rot. Butyou, you deserve worship. You deserve everything I thought I could take.”

He bowed his head lower, his lips brushing the top of my foot. The touch was barely there, a whisper of warmth against my frozen skin. “I want to be the one who kneels for you. Forever. If you let me.”

Tears burned down my cheeks. My chest cracked open, the pain too big to hold. “You think this makes it better?” My voice shook with fury, with the grief trying to claw its way out. “You think kneeling here, now, fixes what you did to me?”

“No.” He looked up, his abyssal eyes hollow and stripped bare. “Nothing can fix it. Nothing can erase it. But I will tear myself apart trying. I will kneel in the dark, in the cold, for eternity if that’s what it takes to give you back even a piece of what I stole.”

I sank to my knees, the cold water biting into my skin. I lifted his face, my fingers trembling against his jaw.

“I don’t know if I can forgive you,” I whispered, the words shattering inside me. “But I can’t keep carrying this hate. It’s killing me.”

A strangled sound escaped him, raw and broken, part sob, part breath. “Then let me carry it. Let me bear it for both of us.”

I closed my eyes, the tears slipping down. “I want to hate you. I want to hate you forever.”

His breath trembled. “I know.”

"I can't," I rasped. "Even after everything, there's still a part of me that... wants you. And it's wrong. It shouldn't feel this way."

He rested his forehead against mine. His claws brushed my cheeks, gently wiping my tears. Each touch hurt in a way I couldn’t explain. His voice was soft but firm. "I'll wait. As long as you need. I'll wait until it feels right for you."

The waves crashed and the wind howled around us, but between us, there was warmth. Small, fragile, but there. I looked at him, really looked at him. I loved him. Twisted and wrong as it was, but I did love him.

I let out a slow breath.

"Take me home," I said quietly.

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