Page 192 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

Since he’s no longer unconscious, I suddenly become aware of our proximity and the fact that we are…naked. It didn’t seem to matter before when the main purpose was tending to him. But now…

The hot water surrounds us, but there is no mistaking the heat coming off his body and transferring onto my own.

His eyes too, blaze with desire, and it’s getting harder and harder to ignore his growing male part poking against my belly.

“Perhaps we should get out. You need rest,” I stammer as I avert my gaze.

“Not yet,” he whispers. “Let me hold you a few moments longer.”

“I’m sure you can surmise this isn’t exactly proper and?—”

“Fuck propriety.”

I raise my eyes to look at him.

“I’m not going to ravage you, Minnie. No matter how much I’d like to, I am too worn out to do anything but hold you. So please…”

Something in his voice makes me waver.

“All right. I suppose we can stay like this a bit longer,” I acquiesce.

My reward is a beaming smile and a tight hug as he presses a kiss on my forehead.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this,” he whispers. “To have you in my arms, to breathe you in and hold you…”

“A few months?” I offer jokingly.

“A lifetime,” he answers. I expect him to laugh it off, but as I tilt my head to look at him, I realize he’s serious about it.

“A lifetime?” I echo.

He takes my hands in his, threading our fingers together and staring at the tight link.

“It was all worth it,” he continues, disregarding my previous question. “Everything was worth it,” he mumbles, more to himself.

“What do you mean?” I frown.

He gives me a tight smile.

“I knew you’d come along, my very own Minnie.” He tightens his hold on me. “I knew I’d find you and that you’d be mine and mine alone.”

“That’s…very nice of you?”

“You will understand. At some point, you will understand. But for now just know that you were the one I was waiting for all along, the one for whom I was glad to go through hell andsuffering as long as I knew I’d one day have your lovely hands take the pain away.”

I bite my lip, unable to ignore the giddiness building inside of me. My stomach is in knots, and though this feeling coursing through me is similar to fear, it is not fear. It’s something new, something that makes me want to take a step forward instead of backward.

I may not understand very well what he’s talking about—these are the ramblings of an ill man after all—but I do know something. His words are sincere.

“I’m glad you waited for me,” I say shyly. “I love knowing I’m the only one for you just like you’re the only one for me. It’s…special.”

He nuzzles his face against my hair before placing his chin on my shoulder.

“Then you must take responsibility for me,” he whispers mischievously in my ear.

“W-what?”

“You must take responsibility for making me wait this long, Minnie. Why couldn’t you come earlier to Anthropa?” he muses, almost to himself.

---