Page 97 of Prisoner of Darkness and Dreams
Even if he went about it the wrong way, he was trying to give me choices instead of taking them away. I told him that people have often lied to me because they thought I was weak, and I was quick to put him in the same boat with them. But that’s not what happened here. His actions had nothing to do with how strong I am and everything to do with my freedom.
And then there’s the fact I’ve felt our relationship was different for a long time but never asked him about it outright. Why didn’t I question those changes more? Because it all felt so natural, I suppose. So right. I don’t dislike being moored to Leon; I love it. I just wish it had happened differently.
I concentrate on the thud of his heartbeat in my awareness, telling me he’s in our room. He stands up when I enter, his gray eyes searching out mine, even though he doesn’t need to read them to know how I’m feeling. He’s not surprised, then, when I go to him, and let him take me in his arms. He rests one hand on my waist and strokes the other along my spine.
“I thought I was putting your happiness first,” he says.
“I know,” I say. I reach out for that connection between us, deliberately trying to send a message along it, asking him to hear my thoughts like I’ve heard his.
“I always loved how you pushed me—believed I was strong in ways no one else did.”
His eyes widen, and I know he’s heard me. I let out a shaky breath, exhilarated by this new closeness, and keep going.
“But you have to treat this relationship like it’s strong too. That means it has to be honest, no matter how ugly or painful or difficult the truth might be. You have to believe that we’ll survive it, because what we won’t survive is anything built on lies. Even ones you think help keep me safe.”
“I know,”he echoes my words, holding my gaze as steady as an anchor in a wild, shifting ocean.“I see that now.”
“You can’t protect me from everything—especially not emotionally,”I tell him.
“You have to realize I’d do anything for you,” he says, breaking our mental conversation to speak out loud. It’s like he thinks it will ring clearer if he actually says the words.
“I do realize that,” I reply, running a hand along his jaw. “And of course I feel the same.”
“So you’d do anything for me except forgive me for my mistake,” he says wryly.
“That’s the first time you’ve called it that,” I point out. I sigh, knowing I’m not angry about this anymore, but I still need things to change. “Just promise me that if you’re going to do anything for me, you’ll include me in it. Promise that we’ll never have any more lies between us, ever.”
Leon has kept things from me, but he’s always kept his promises to me too. He’s never gone back on anything he’s sworn to me, not since we went to Filusia all those months ago.
“I promise,” he says, and then says it again in my mind.
“I promise, my love.”
“Will I always be able to hear you?” I ask, still in awe of our minds being joined like this.
“When you choose to. Now that you know about the mooring, you’ll be able to consciously let me in, and choose which thoughts to send to me.” A touch of unease mars his features. “But Ana, the more we do that, the deeper the mooring will grow. We’ll only become even more closely bound. Is that what you want?”
I smile. “Of course it’s what I want. Leon, you were already a part of my soul before the mooring; you already had my heart and mind. This just makes it tangible. I’m ready to spend a lifetime in your arms, and even then it won’t be long enough.”
“How about we start with the next few hours?” he asks playfully, pulling me closer.
He lowers his lips to mine, gently easing my mouth open for better access. He kisses me long and sensuously, stoking my desire with slow strokes of his tongue against my own. It’s so heady and intense, I nearly forget to breathe. Kissing him has always been amazing, but this is on an entirely new level. Only then do I realize that however the mooring connected us before, things have changed.
“I can feel your pleasure,”I send along the mooring.“I can feel it mixing with mine.”
It’s no longer an echo, but instead the two forces—my desire and his—have been brought fully together to make one powerful cocktail of sensation.
“It’s magnificent,”he says, and I feel his waves of enjoyment as I experimentally flick my tongue against his and then bite down gently on his lower lip.
I moan, unable to stay silent under the onslaught of sensations.
“All this just from a kiss,”I think to Leon, astounded.“How are we ever going to leave this bedroom?”
“Let future us worry about that,”Leon responds, his hands deftly working to remove my dress, then sliding the shift over my head. I feel the surge of hungerhefeels as he feasts his eyes on my naked body. Then I let him taste my own raw need as I liberate him from his clothes, running my hands over his hard, sculpted chest.
“I want to try something,” he growls, ushering me toward the bed, managing to run his hands all over my body in the process.
“What is it?” I breathe excitedly. The power of his pleasure doubled with mine has me almost feral, and I’m already soaking wet, aching for him before I’ve even been properly touched.
