Page 161 of Visions of Darkness

My mind raced and my spirit spun with what we’d done. With the boundary we’d crossed and the decree we’d defied.

The mandate we’d shaken.

It might have been our greatest rule, but I couldn’t find a place inside myself that could regret it. I got the sense that maybe we’d been here all along and had only been giving in to what was already done.

Valeen was wrong. I knew it in my soul. There was no chance Aria and I weren’t meant for this. No chance she wasn’t supposed to be mine and I wasn’t supposed to be hers.

And I might have been standing right then, but I was on my knees.

An offering.

She had those arms looped around my neck, holding on to me like I was some kind of savior.

I’d give it all to be.

Her savior.

The one who would see her purpose through. Stand behind her while she rose.

My insides twisted with the fear of whatever had happened that had led to this. To the girl drenched and choking in her sleep.

Anxiety clambered through my insides as I angled into the tub and turned the water on full force, still holding her in my arms like they might be strong enough to protect her.

But how the hell could we stop this wickedness when we had no idea it was coming at us from every direction?

Her breaths were shallow, and she panted as I held her there while the water heated, her body still twitching from the aftershocks of her pleasure.

I would never be able to wipe the memory of it from my mind.

The way she’d glowed when I’d filled her.

A luminescence radiating from her skin, her spirit a whispering flare that speared into me.

Like every cell in her being was trying to find a way to join with mine.

No question it had, and neither of us was going to be the same.

Once steam had begun to fill the enclosed space, I stepped into the tub with her.

Chills rolled through her the second the heated spray hit our flesh. The cold that had seeped down to her bones had thawed, the ice melted by the connection we shared and the warmth that fell over us in sheets and rivulets that skimmed down our bodies.

I eased her head back under the steamy fall, saturating her hair with the heated water while she looked up at me with those fathomless gray eyes.

Bottomless.

Eternal.

Right then, they toiled like a dark sea tormented by a violent, unending storm. But right in the middle was an island.

Her pupils firm with a fierce, stark love.

With hope.

With belief.

Unfound and undying.

My heart hammered in spasms of volatility. I brushed my fingers through her long, black locks, chasing away the lingering cold steeped in the strands. My voice was brittle when I finally forced myself to speak. “Can you tell me what happened?”

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