Page 154 of An Unexpected Ascension
Turning towards the door, I begin to make my escape, but a weight on my chest sits heavy and loud.
Just go.
Aurelius stands tied to the bedpost, gagged and trapped with no way to come after me. It gives me plenty of time to grab Lynx and run, but...
I find myself at his back again and a dagger in my hand. With the other, I drag my fingertips down his spine just light enough to tickle. He trembles in response.
“Aurelius? Do you think you’ve been a good boy?” I ask.
He nods and groans simultaneously.
Reaching around I find his hardened cock and wrap my fist around it. I don’t miss the way he nearly sags in relief.
“Do you think you deserve your treat?”
Again, he nods.
With one quick, swift movement, I sever the appendage in my hand from his body. A terrible, pain-filled scream erupts from the God as blood gushes like an untamed water hose. It pools at his feet and soaks the hem of my dress.
I leave him there with his bloodied, unwanted cock tossed on the bed and his tears as his only company.
Adrenaline racesthrough every vein in my body. The pure energy causes my hands to tremble as I unlock the dungeon door. A few times, the key nearly drops from my slippery hands, but when Imanage, I find my demon cradled and shaking in a crimson puddle. He doesn’t move apart from the violent shivers as if he’s on the brink of death.
“Lynx?” His name breaks in my throat.
His eyes lie open fixated on the wall before him. Every bit of inked skin is mutilated and split open. The blood that covers his back is such a mess that you can’t see where one wound starts and the other ends. The brutality glaring back at me causes my stomach to roil and my blood to heat.
Yet, I continue taking inventory of each and every bit of torture he’s endured. Even the blood that coats the back of his naked thighs. It’s then that the sob I was holding in rips free as my heart shatters at the sight of the man I love so broken and defeated.
I kneel by his side, brushing the dark plastered bangs from his forehead.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Unlocking his shackles, I tuck myself beneath one of his arms as gently as I can and guide him to his feet. It takes every bit of effort we both possess to climb the stairs out of that dungeon and hope to the Devil that no one is waiting on the other side of that door.
The moment we step foot onto the kitchen floor, we’re falling into the abyss at last.
Our landing at Galsip Falls is brash, causing me to stumble. I wince as I watch Lynx fall to his hands and knees, the pain visibly coursing through him with the impact. Reaching for him, I try to bring him to his feet, but he doesn’t budge.
“Come on, stand,” I plead.
His head drops between his shaking shoulders. There are no words that I can say in this moment that would be worthy of speaking aloud. Nothing will take away the suffering he’s endured, nothing will lighten the darkness suffocating his heart.
Instead, I drop to my knees with him, resting my forehead along his shoulder. He winces with the contact, but not out of agony.
“I’m so sorry, Lynx. I’m so sorry.”
Finally, after several long heartbeats, navy blue eyes as wet as the sea find me. Those eyes, rimmed in red and so heartbreakingly devastated.
His lips quiver as if the words he wishes to tell me sit stuck on his tongue. Patiently, I wait for him, caressing the color splashed across his battered cheek. It only elicits tears to fall past his lower lashes.
I drop even deeper onto the floor of the cave, crossing my legs and urging him to rest. To lay his head on my lap and he gratefully accepts. There, I drag my fingers through his sweaty hair as he sobs into my thighs. His body curls in on itself and with a death grip, he clings to me as his wails echo between the stone walls.
His body doesn’t seem to be healing on its own, perhaps he’s too weak to draw from Lucifer’s powers. So, I do it for him. Trailing my palm over his naked body, I stop over each and every wound. Though he physically seems to mend, his soul remains fractured.
“Come on, let’s go somewhere more comfortable and find you some clothes,” I murmur.
Chapter 53
