Page 124 of This Blood that Bonds Us
We remained speechless for minutes, and I listened to the rapid beating of his heart until it calmed.
“See, there are candles,” I said. Our limbs were still tangled.
I wasn’t prepared for the transition, but it had happened right under my nose. He knew me before we were lovers, and now I didn’t think anyone could know me more intimately. I never thought I’d be so known. So open. So bare before anyone. There weren’t any more layers to peel back; this was me.
I understood it now. That thing that made people do unthinkable things.
I never wanted to leave the warmth of his arms. My heart skipped at the thought of what was to come, and I remembered we couldn’t stay locked in the safety of our cabin forever.
“Do you still think you’re closer to a funeral or a wedding?” he asked.
“Both.”
“Why are you still so pessimistic?” He moved hair from my eyes and tucked it behind my ear.
“I see the writing on the wall, Aaron. And it says . . . give up because your odds of surviving are low. That nothing ever turns out the way you want it to.”
He laughed into my neck, and the warmth lifted the hairs on arm. “Are you sure? Come on, Burns. Believe with me.”
“I’m afraid of the disappointment.”
“But what if . . . what if everything works out the way it’s supposed to. And we walk out of that place changed and maybe bloody but alive. You don’t think that’s a possibility?”
No. Not a likely one.
“I want to believe it. Help me,” I pleaded.
“Close your eyes.”
I did, and he ran his fingers over my lips. I shivered.
“Repeat after me. I, Kimberly Burns, am brave.”
I said the words slowly.
“And I choose to believe in things that I can’t see despite when my brain tells me how unlikely it is.”
I repeated it, squeezing my eyes as if willing and wishing would make the words true.
“I have hope.”
“I have hope,” I said.
I pulled him into me for another kiss. I wasn’t done with him for the night. Not even close. Each kiss left me wondering if the longer he kissed me the more I’d get a glimpse of that hope his heart held. He filled a deep part of me with optimism. My radiant sunlight warmed me with every touch that dragged in the night.
Fifty-Four
Aaron
A numbing cold surrounded me as a set of hands tugged at the back of my head.
“My Love.” An all-encompassing voice of a woman sounded in my ear with hints of longing and lust.
When I pulled away, I saw Her. White hair and glossy gray eyes. The queen. Any glance at Her only brought bile into mythroat. My eyes watered from the smell wafting off Her—a putrid odor that stayed in the back of my throat.
“Sorry. I’m not really into this,” I said.
She tilted Her head in confusion. Like a magnet drawing me away from Her, I spotted a door.
