Page 34 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

"Tell me you want me to stop looking," I push, her body a shaking mess.

Trying to look away, I force her focus back to me.

"I said look at me, Forest," I push, her hands shaking, struggling to keep my weight off of her.

"Xavier, please, get off," she cries, the urgency in her tone eating me alive.

"What did he do to you?" I question, my own tears breaching my tear line. "What did he do to you, baby-"

"I said get off!" she snaps, her Hold taking over.

Winnowing with urgency, she stumbles into the nearest wall, the anger radiating off of the woman so primal. Running her hands up and down the front of her cloak, she takes several deep breaths, holding back a gag.

She's sick.

Slipping off the bed, she raises her hand, warning me not to take another step.

"What did he do to you, Forest?" I question. "Who are you trying to protect?" I push, tears soaking both of our cheeks.

"You," she mutters. "I'm protecting my family," she continues, an inkling of hope nestling itself into my soul. "And I can't do that if I know you're caught in the crossfire," she pushes. "So, for the love of Sanctum, Xavier, please, stop looking for me."

Taking several seconds to digest her words, I do the one thing I can.

"Come here," I suggest, no longer posing a question. "Just come here."

Staring at me with doubt, she clenches her fists.

"I will hold onto you, for as long as I walk this plane of existence," I say, keeping my focus on the petrified woman. "So, if you love me, Forest, then, please, come here-"

Feeling her body meet mine, every single restraint she forced on me dies down, her hands coiling in my hair as she pushes me back onto the bed. Staying in a seated position, I force her legs back to my sides, letting her land in my lap, her lips colliding with mine. Now, kissing me as hungrily as I had her, our teeth nearly clatter, her mouth savoring every second of this interaction. Feeling the burning heat of lust creep into mybody, I look past the blood flow accumulating between my legs, holding her as tight as I possibly can. Feeling weight on her despite her hollow face, her tongue glides over my bottom lip, my focus quickly pulling away from the feeling of her touch.

Trying to force my head away from its downward position, she grabs my cheeks, her eyes wide, her body rigid. Having crept my hand beneath her cloak, I feel her torso as I normally do, something odd in the way her body feels. Frozen like a statue, the once prominent ribs and muscled torso now a bloated firm stomach, her face masked with a film of illness. Clutching my hand with a death grip, she pries it free from beneath her cloak, shakily drawing breath.

"What-"

"I shouldn't have come here," she hisses, Winnowing to the window, my mind still trying to piece together how she could look so sickly yet carry the extra weight.

Flicking her wrist, the window slides open, my body confided to the restraint of her Hold once more.

"If you come looking for me in the Precipice," she whispers. "You won't like what you find."

Saying nothing else, her body slips out the window, the sound of footsteps fading until nothing at all. Feeling her Hold die down, I scramble to the window, meeting nothing but the pitch-black forest surrounding the cabin. Reaching instinctively for her ring, I feel an absence in the place it was once settled, the chain broken, barely hanging to my neck.

She took it.

Letting my knees hit the ground as I blanky stare out the window, the drive to bring her home now higher than ever. Running through every event that just happened, I focus solely on one thought pattern.

What the hell did Elyon do to her?

Chapter ten

Forest

Trying my best to quietly creep into our housing in the Precipice, the large creaky doors to the lodging units seem to announce my every move, making it that much harder to remain as silent as I was hoping to. Keeping my hood drawn, every guard on watch barely looks my direction, too petrified by my presence to question my late-night comings and goings. Keeping my hands on my stomach as I move, the firm torso Xavier had taken notice of seems to be that much more prominent, the feeling of his hands and lips on me something I never thought I could crave as much as I did last night.

I knew it was stupid to seek him out.

It was even more idiotic to think I could see him and hold up this façade of hate.

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