Page 67 of A Legacy of Wrath and Reckoning

Holt caught her hand, thumb stroking her wrist and his pain hitting her square in the chest so sharply she pulled back on the thread with a careful tug. But the pain didn’t end.

“Stop,” she pleaded, tearing the cloth from her eyes and resting her hand over his heart. “Whatever you’re thinking, just stop. Please.”

“I keep trying to remember what we were to each other,” he said hoarsely, pulling her body flush against his, his other hand cupping the back of her head. “When.”

He’d have seen and felt everything she just had, every emotion that danced over her skin.Hisemotions, every moment of his love. So much love in those memories, stripped away by whatever cruel thing Aurelia had done to him.

“Holt,” Zylah breathed. “I want to show you but I…” She swallowed back the lump in her throat, fingers curling into his shirt to stop her from doing all the things she wanted to do. “I’m selfish,” she whispered over his lips. “And once I start, I won’t be able to stop.”

“Be selfish. Show me. Please.” The need in his voice matched the same wild desperation she felt, desire coursing through her. But she wouldn’t deny him. Couldn’t.

Zylah wasn’t sure if he moved first or she did, only that his mouth was on hers, his tongue sliding between her lips as if he couldn’t wait to taste her. Her hands tangled in Holt’s hair, a moan escaping her that he echoed with his own, the kiss turning into something wild and frantic. But then another wave of pain hit, warring with her desire just like the two versions of her sight.

Zylah pulled back, her forehead resting against his, their chests heaving. “I can’t,” she said softly against his lips, fingers tracing the line of his jaw like she’d dreamed of doing so many nights back in the maze. “I can’t be the one to hurt you.”

“Then stay with me,” he murmured against her mouth before stealing another kiss, this one slower, softer. “Just to sleep.”

Zylah nodded, because she couldn’t refuse him, let him pull her down into the soft blankets. Strong arms wrapped around her, Holt’s heart still racing just as much as hers.

Heartache cooled the desire, the heaviness of sorrow fighting with another flash of anger, but Zylah focused on the feel of him, his warmth, the scent of him to ground her. She’d seen his memories. Which meant they were still there. Some of them, at least. Which meant whatever Aurelia thought she’d done had the potential to be undone.

Zylah held onto that sliver of hope, told herself that this was just their first attempt, that there would be other opportunities and they wouldn’t all hurt him. But a voice in the back of her mind did its very best to argue with that logic. What if it always hurt him? What if the suffering was too much, and he chose to walk away?

“Are you like Thallan?” he asked her quietly, his chest pressed against her back, his heart still racing. “The mental abilities.”

It was no surprise he would have jumped to that conclusion, but the disappointment that it was his first assumption still stung. Zylah ran her thumb over his where he’d banded his arm at her waist, wondering if there was more to his question. Rose had rejected Thallan, and she knew Holt’s thoughts would have taken him to that conclusion more than once. “I’m nothing like Thallan.”

She felt his relief everywhere their bodies touched. “Then what did you say to him to make him stop, back in the palace?” When Thallan had been torturing him.

Zylah glanced up over her shoulder, her gaze unintentionally settling on his mouth, lips still swollen from their kiss. “I told him what you mean to me.”

“Tell me,” he pleaded, brushing a stray piece of hair from her eyes, his hand lingering on her face. But the echo of his pain still remained in her chest, tinged with the unmistakable tang of fear. Zylah wouldn’t let either ruin this moment with him, intent on treasuring whatever few seconds she had in his arms.

Despite the pain, the lust she could still very much feel the evidence of between them, his eyes were bright, his features soft, hopeful, his happiness that she’d laid down beside him undeniable, and it only made her love him even more.

“If I tell you, will you go to sleep?” She bit back a smile as she turned away, sinking into him further and settling down to sleep.

“Bossy,” he mumbled into her hair, pulling her into him, more of the tension easing from them both.

They lay quietly until their heartbeats slowed, until the memory of the pain faded and Holt’s steady breaths told her he’d fallen asleep.

“Everything,” Zylah finally whispered into the quiet of the cave as sleep finally claimed her too.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Zylahsleptmoredeeplythan she had since the whole sorry mess had started. She awoke still wrapped in Holt’s arms, his quiet breathing telling her that he was awake too. Her threads informed her Arioch was still outside, that he hadn’t been in the cave all night. They were alone, the thought of what they’d been doing before Holt had asked her to sleep beside him sending a spark of heat racing through her.

His fingers splayed over her stomach, the other hand resting over her heart, the organ skipping a beat beneath his touch. She glanced up over her shoulder, the movement pulling their bodies closer together, the hard length of him pressing into her backside and turning the heat into a deep ache. “Did you sleep?” she murmured.

“A little.” The hand over her heart drifted up to wrap around her throat, Holt’s thumb brushing against her pulse. If only she could stop time. Stretch this moment out between them with that look on his face and their bodies pressed together, the world fading to nothing beyond the mouth of the cave.

“Did you dream?” Zylah asked, thighs squeezing together at the way his thumb drew lazy circles over her skin, sparks dancing in its wake.

“Vividly,” he said roughly. “I think they were memories.”

“What did you dream of?” She twisted in his arms, hands on his chest, his heart racing beneath her touch.

In one swift motion, he pulled her on top of him, legs straddling either side of his. “Of you on top of me.” He rose until their mouths were barely a breath away from each other, and Zylah bit back a moan at the way the movement ground him against her core. “Underneath me. Of your thighs wrapped around my head. Of what you taste like. Here.” His hand lowered to her centre, the other on her hip, rocking her once against him and catching her gasp with his mouth. Desire hummed thick in the air between them, his hooded eyes taking her in as he pulled back to rock her again, every bit of her focus narrowing in on that point where their bodies touched.

---