Page 32 of A Harmony of Procellarum

“No,” I correct him as I slowly shake my head. “I stopped you from killing me.”

“Is that how you feel?” he asks as he tips his head to the side and releases my hand. “If she dies, you die?”

“Yes,” I answer him honestly, my eyes never wavering from his. “She’s innocent and never deserved to be sacrificed.”

“We’ve sacrificed many innocent women before her,” he reminds me, this time his hand coming up to stroke my cheek. “It goes beyond her innocence. I can see how your heart and hers beat the same rhythm. It makes me want to rip both out of your chests, just to feel them pulse against the palms of my hands at the same time.”

This is why I blame myself for the position Tiny is in, because if I just ignored what I was feeling the moment I laid eyes on her, she would have never been in Torrent’s trajectory.

“I can’t let that happen,” I tell him sadly, with a slow shake of my head.

“After tonight,” he says as he leans in close, pressing his mouth to my cheek. “We are through, Squall. I’m no longer yours.”

My heart cracks as I shake my head. “We’re bonded,” I remind him. “There’s no breaking that.”

“After tonight, I will no longer be bonded to you.” He pulls back slightly so he can look me in the eye. “I can’t be Torrent, nor can I be Victor, because my last mission will become impossible.”

“I don’t understand.” I curl my hand into the folds of his robe, pulling his body against mine. “Torrent, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I need to turn myself over to the demon inside me,” he says as my fist tightens in the robe, anger coursing through me.

“You’re not possessed,” I grind out each word with emphasis, forcing him to hear every syllable.

“Aren’t I?” His tongue slips out between his lips, leaving a trail glistening in its wake.

“You’re just sick,” I admit to him as my forehead drops to his. “You need help.”

“No, Squall,” he growls as he tries to pull away from me, but I don’t let him. “The night he died, the demon left him and entered me.”

“There was no demon.” I give him a shake.

“If I’m sick,”—his fist hits his chest—“then I don’t want to be sick anymore. I don’t want to be here anymore, and the only way I can leave is to finish what I’ve started.”

“You can’t hurt her,” I beg him. “She’s good and pure.”

I feel the tear slip down over my cheek moments before he leans in to lick it off. “I hate her.” His confession is nothing I didn’t already know, and I’m not stupid. The only reason Tiny is still alive is because of me.

“No, you hate me,” I correct him. His forehead falls back against mine, our breaths mingling in the small space between us.

“I can’t be sick anymore,” he says with a quiet sob, causing my heart to shatter. “I don’t want to be here with this sickness inside of me.”

“Take me instead of her,” I plead. “I will go in her place.”

“You’ll come with me?” He runs his nose along mine, the touch lighting my cold skin on fire.

“Always.”

He cradles my face between his hands and kisses me sweetly, the gentle press of his lips like the cool caress of the breeze on a hot summer’s day.

It feels like the kiss of goodbye and I refuse to let that happen, so my hand wraps around his chin, forcing his mouth open under mine and then I take what I want. I kiss him as if he’s the air I need to breathe. My tongue tangles with his as my other hand glides down over his chest and hooks around his waist, dragging his body into mine. His hands cradling my face slip up into my hair and rips it from the bun, forcing it to cascade down to my shoulders.

He releases my lips to run his tongue along my chin and up my cheek, his breath hot on my ear and my cock throbbing in response. He knows every single part of me. Where to touch, where to kiss. No one else knows me like he does.

“How do you want me?” he whispers, his tongue flicking against my lobe.

I rip open my robe and drop it to the floor, pushing him back a few steps. “On your fucking knees.”

When we’re alone and naked in each other’s grasps is when he’s the most obedient, and when he falls to his knees without as much as a second thought, I reach out and pat the top of his head as he smirks up at me.

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