Page 63 of Body of Echoes

The interruption of his movements forced me to shout his name in protest. “Fletcher!”

He chuckled and answered my plea by entering me with two fingers, causing so much pleasant surprise that I released around them.

He slid out of me and stood. In a quick movement, he grabbed me by my thighs and yanked me toward him until my bottom was off the edge of the table.

I squealed in a laugh as he caught me, bent to align himself with me, and sent himself thrusting deeply.

I growled and gripped the edge of the table as Fletcher bent over me. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he trailed eager kisses along my collar bone. “My princess.”

Then, he was moving, rough and fast, as his hand came to my breast. My chase returned tenfold as he grabbed locks of my hair, wrapped them dotingly around my wrists, then pulled my hands above my head.

“Today, you looked decadent.” His lips came to mine, tongues meeting in a frenzy without stopping the rhythm of his thrusts.

“This is all I wanted to do to you when I saw you on that stage.”

His speed increased as he looked into my black-rimmed eyes, a reminder of today’s betrayal that I wanted to push away. His breathing increased as his arms banded around my lower back and pulled me down onto him so that he reached the deepest part of me. My vision became blurry, my body sweaty, andtime felt fluid. We made love in sync—in a way that intertwined our souls, never to be parted throughout this lifetime and beyond.

Pleasure so intense engulfed me that I swore I could see through space and gravity.

And when we both came in an eruption of heavy pants and sweat and cum, he collapsed onto me, his chest pressing against me. I could feel his heart racing toward a calm state beneath my cheek. And when I thought maybe his heart was beating for me, tears filled my eyes.

In a soft whisper, Fletcher asked, “What’s wrong?”

I sniffed and tried to get myself out from under him. He realized what I was trying to do, so he pulled himself out of me and sat me up on the table with a kiss on my cheek.

“Tell me, Ripley.”

I wiped away the tears with the back of my hand. “I’m sorry. I never learn.”

His brows knitted and his cinnamon eyes glossed over with worry. “What are you talking about?”

“I desperately don’t want to be married to him. I can’t believe I keep falling for these traps that keep us apart. I’ve let you down.”

His brows turned down as his jaw tensed. His arms wrapped around me, hand curling around my head. “You haven’t let me down. Elizy has. Ripley, you are up against some pretty persistent people. This is on them, not you.” He pulled away, stroking my hair off my shoulder and onto my back. “Please don’t let this mar your sense of compassion. Because I’m wildly attracted to it.”

I frowned. “How do I get out of this marriage?”

A long exhale released from his nose as he stared at me and said, “I’m not sure if it can be reversed.”

I gaped at him, dread trickling up my spine. “Donottell me that.”

He pressed his lips.

“There has to be a way. I’d sell my magic—my soul to get out of this.”

Then, it hit me. Something Aldris had said two months ago when I had blindly run from him the time I thought he had stolen my blood.

You step foot in the sorceress’s den, you don’t leave unless you sell your soul.She makes really unfair, one-sided bargains for those desperate enough to sell their souls to her.

I could still hear her raspy voice in my head, calming me, luring me away through the woods, promising me whatever I wanted.

The sorceress’s den. I gasped as I scrambled off the table. “I need clothes.”

“What? Why?”

The den. That was it. I could feel it in my bones the same way I could feel the pulse of the Ölden Lands. The answers lay with the sorceress. I darted up the stairs, rustling through Aldris’s drawers and finding a large gray t-shirt that I could wear as a dress. I gripped the vines around me and gently unraveled myself, laying them neatly on the edge of the bed so that I could keep them forever.

Fletcher stood behind me, spinning me around by my shoulder. “Where are you going?”

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