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“I wanted to die.” Her fingertips clawed into my collarbone, as though she was trying to anchor herself somehow. “I wanted the bond to go away, I wanted you gone. But it was awful, ithurtso much…”

I wrapped my arms around her, and held her tightly. “I could feel it, your anger and your pain. And then something else.” She gazed up at me. “It was like you were calling to me, in the night. It was torture, not being with you.”

“I dreamed of you.” She raised a cold hand to my face. “I begged Lada for an answer, why you? Why us?”

I smiled. “And what answer did she give you?”

“Just more dreams of you.” She buried her face in my neck. “The dreams, they’re agony.”

“How so, my love?”

“Because when I wake up, you’re not there.” She quivered in my arms as she began to cry again. “The longing, Rook, it’s unbearable.”

Yes, it is.My longing for her was going to drive me insane. I cradled her head in my hand. “I want you to tell me about these dreams.”

She drew back, regarding me with raised eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Tell me about these dreams.”

“Now?”

“Yes now.”

She sniffled and shifted on my lap, sitting up a little more. “B-but you know what they are. You have them too. Why now?”

“You need to think about something else, anything else, than what you’ve been through. Tell me what you dream about me. Tell me how it feels for you.”

Her eyes dropped, and she swallowed hard, pushing her hair out of her face. “It’s always different. Sometimes you’re-“ Her eyes flashed up to mine. “Sometimes you’re rough, and wild. You say things to me no one has ever said to me before. Youdothings to me I didn’t know…. And then other times…” She reached out and traced her thumb over my lower lip. “It’s just your mouth, all over me, kissing me everywhere.”

“And which do you prefer?”

Her eyes lit up as they met mine, life coming back into them, flaming with a tiny spark of desire. “I like both.” Then her lip began to quiver. “But it doesn’t matter, because I wake up, and you’re - you’re-“ Her body quaked as she cried. “Oh Gods, please, do something, anything. I don’t want to feel this way anym-“

My lips crashed into hers, cutting off her words.Oh fucking Gods. The simmering flame in my chest exploded into a raging wildfire as my hands slid into her hair, and she melted against me. Her lips parted, her tongue meeting mine without hesitation. My mind was almost blank with desire, consumed with nothing but her taste and her scent and the feeling offinallykissing her.

Without breaking the kiss, she scrambled on top of me, straddling me and seizing my face in her hands. I felt the blanket fall down around her waist, and my hands raked down the sides of her body, over her warm skin, the soft mounds of her breasts.

“You’re not broken,” I murmured against her lips. “Every part of you is perfect. All of you.”

“I want you, so much.” She sighed as I kissed her neck, her head tipping back. Her hands moved down my chest, pushing my shirt open. “Please, Rook.”

I took a deep breath as her hands moved down over my stomach. Gods, I wanted her. And when she ground herself against me, my arousal more than obvious, my resolve nearly faltered. But I didn’t want it to be like this. I wanted to take my time with her, to make it more than just a quick fuck fuelled by misery.

“Don’t say no to me again.” She looked at me, shaking her head.

“I’m not saying no to you, princess.” I didn’t think I’d ever be able to bring myself to say no to her ever again.

“Then please-”

I pulled her to me, kissing her deeply. She whimpered against me as my hand moved between her legs, and she sucked in a breath as my finger dipped inside her. She pulled back from my mouth, her breath shuddering as she gripped my shoulders. She rolled her hips, her clit meeting the pad of my thumb, and she hesitated for only a moment before she repeated the motion with a moan.

I threaded my other hand into her hair, her forehead against mine as she ground herself against my fingers.

“I want your cock,” she murmured. “Please Rook, please.” She suppressed a cry as I slid another finger inside her.

FuckingGods,she felt exquisite - hot and wet, and so fucking tight. She leaned back, clasping on to my shoulders, and the sight of her naked body right in front of me, her golden hair lit by the fire - she was burning, just for me. I wanted nothing more than to be inside her, but I bit back my longing, simply watching her as she built towards her climax. She threw her head back and let out a soft moan.

“That’s it,” I murmured, caressing her thigh. “That feels good, doesn’t it, my love?”