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And they tumble. The knot of tension breaks. Both Sorrow’s womb and his length seize up, then surrender. Her body contracts with Envy’s, her insides fracturing around him, the orgasm gushing from where they’re rooted together.

In all this time, not once have they looked away from each other.

And now she knows what that feels like.

23

Envy

Afterward, he kisses her slowly. Still nestled between her thighs, still breathing hectically, he seals her mouth with his own.

And so, he gives what’s left of himself to her.

Her skin is fleece, soft and simple—like this moment. A gorgeous suffusion of red trails over her body, beckoning his lips to map out each blush until she chuckles.

When she combs through his hair, nothing has ever felt so comforting. With his erection still lodged in her, nothing has ever felt so agonizing.

Reluctantly, Envy pulls out and rolls them over. Wrapped around one another, they listen to the waterfalls.

Soon enough, he glances at Sorrow. Dipping his head, he grazes his nose against hers. “You are my pleasure and pain.”

She gulps. “Back atcha.”

Her expression wears the aftereffects of his lovemaking. A landslide of emotions tackles his heart to the ground. Over the centuries, countless deities have mooned at him, but none have ever looked at him this way.

His own little drowning star, to whom he winks.

24

Sorrow

Afterward, they dress one another slowly. Their eyes remain pinned as Envy tugs Sorrow’s skirt up her limbs, as she drapes his shirt over his shoulders and buttons the material. Their movements are tender, and languid, and intimate. This turning point is as priceless as the endless sounds they’d made together.

Sorrow stares at Envy, at an utter loss for words. Every smile drills another hole into her chest.

How one can feel pleasure while enduring pain? Are both synonymous? Is it impossible to have one without the other?

She should know, but she doesn’t. She’s unsure if she knows anything at all.

Because maybe her sovereigns had known better than she. Because that’s how destiny works, predicting the moves and countermoves before the players act.

Because until this moment, her answer to the Court had been no.

And until this moment, she had expected it to stay that way.

25

Envy

It happened. It happened in a way it’s never happened before.

What just transpired between them has a sumptuous and priceless texture that he fails to identify. Is this what it’s like for his friends?

Envy wants to do and say shit that’s out of character to his nature. He wants to spring into cartwheels and hoot a confounded melody. He wants to spoil her, make her come at least two dozen times. He wants to learn more about this feeling, figure out how it works.

But they can’t stay here. And he’s too fretful, barely cognizant of where to start.

He’s been a fool for centuries, taking this for granted. But then, perhaps they’d needed to go through their lives just as they had, in order to end up here. If he’d been able to undo prior events, would he have? Only a mating of fate and free will can say.