Page 80 of Tainted Serenity

The raw emotions of the moment wash over me like a heavy downpour of rain, drowning me in desperation, despair, yet love. She has enslaved and bewitched me, and I would have it no other way. She is the poison I would gladly take, as long as she remains with me.

Like all the other times, her kiss awakens emotions within me I have never experienced before her, and my heart pounds uncontrollably beneath my ribcage.

The flickering embers come closer as they devour the façade of the house, making the heat nearly unbearable. It’s just us searching for refuge in each other’s embrace, holding on through all the uncertainty, knowing that this might very well be our ending.

“This is a sacrifice we have to make,” she whispers, trying to convince me of the events of lighting the house on fire even when I’m already convinced.

“I know, little doll. You don’t have to explain.”

Her eyes are filled with so many emotions it physically makes my own chest cave, and I savor the feel of her in my embrace as the flames work their way through the house, coming closer to us. If we somehow manage to get out of the house, the guards would have our heads.

Death is the gateway to the freedom we have long sought, and now we will finally enter the gates into the afterlife.

There is no going back from this now; perhaps there never was. I cannot help but kiss her one last time, knowing how our fates are going to end yet feeling content that we will die together.

“I love you so fucking much it hurts,” she confesses, and her words hit me deeper than I thought words ever could.

I search for something in her gaze, as if I am looking for the joke she’s telling me, but I know that deep down, she loves me. As I do her.

“I love you. I will always fucking love you. Even in the afterlife, my little doll.”

As the firing flames come closer to where we stand, their relentless heat inches toward us, and the thick, black smoke gulfs our surroundings. It deprives the space from air until each breath becomes a panicked struggle.

“Until the afterlife,” she whispers, finally closing her eyes.

Chapter 30

Naya

I’m coughing, sputtering outsaliva while my lungs burn as if they are on fire. The smell of nature fills my lungs as I roll onto my side, feeling the gravel poking my body until it feels as if it will steal the breath from me. My chest heaves involuntarily as another onslaught of forceful expulsions slips from my throat, and it’s as if my body is desperately trying to remove something harmful. Each raspy breath feels like I’m battling my inner demons, only that this time, they win. There is no end to this awful torture inside my own battle, and that in itself makes me cry out.

With confusion, I stare ahead and notice the trees swaying gently in the breeze that’s settling over my surroundings; the moon hanging high up in the sky while casting its glow over me. It feels peaceful, yet at the same time not.

Is this the afterlife? Did I finally take my last breath, dragging down Arthur and the castle with me?

But no, I realize, and my heart plummets to the hard ground I’m lying on. I still hear the crackling sounds of the flames eating through the woods some distance away, snapping pieces punctuating the air. The heat waves come over me as I fight my watering eyes, having to blink multiple times.

Why can’t I fucking stop coughing?

I try to lift myself from the ground in a sitting position, but it is impossible when my body feels like lead, my muscles having given up on me and refusing to function properly. Every part of my body aches from agony.

Someone grabs my arm in a careful grip, and I wince from the sudden shock, not sure if I’m alive or not. When I stare into the sapphire blue eyes of the man I finally confessed my love to, it all comes crashing back down, like a devastating tsunami wave.

How the fuck am I alive?

A hesitant and careful smile spreads across Grey’s lips as he stares down at me, sitting beside my limp body, and I realize I said those words out loud. He cocks his head to the side where Daxton stands, his clothes torn apart with soot covering his face, but at least he appears to be better than the two of us.

“He got us out,” Grey whispers in my ear before he presses his forehead against mine.

I shut my eyes closed, my heart pounding wildly inside my ribcage as another painful cough slips from me. I cannot decipher if I should be relieved or not that I am still alive, breathing. Is that not what I wanted? To finally leave this hell of earth and not feel this endless pain in my chest anymore, both mentally and physically.

And the two of them took that from me.

Frustrated tears trail down my cheeks, which I can’t prevent, and I let them fall instead of trying to hide myself. I don’t even care if I am showing my weaknesses, because everything is already lost and broken. Except, it’s not.

Grey is still here with me.

He helps me to a sitting position, and another cough comes from me, but they are slowly dissipating. His hand gently cups my cheeks, staring into my eyes, before his thumbs sweep away the tears with such gentle tenderness it makes my heart cave from the oncoming emotions.

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