Page 230 of Dark Souls

Hana chewed on her bottom lip and stared at me. I inhaled deeply and placed my hand over his on the bed. He deserved our support.

“We will help you find her. I’ll dig up photos from the manor, and you can see if you recognise her from any of them. I thought I killed every Knowlton witch, but perhaps one slipped through the cracks.”

He reached over his torso with his other hand and patted mine. “Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but I really want to enjoy a decent sleep in a bed that isn’t made of twigs, so if you two wouldn’t mind fucking off.”

My face broke into a broad smile because there was my blunt, no-fucks-given brother. Hana and I stood up and made our way to the door.

“Luka,” he called out from the bed, and I peered over my shoulder. “That girl of yours… I like her.”

“Hands fucking off.” I smirked as he lifted his lips into a twisted grin.

“I’m happy for you,” he answered, then moved his gaze to Hana. “For both of you.”

“Maybe now you’re free, you might find your soulmate too,” Hana beamed at him, but his smile dropped.

He didn’t answer, only rolled his body onto his side with effort and groaned. Hana sighed and left the room and just before I closed the door, I swear I heard him muttering, “As if she’d want me like this.”

Entering Ilaria’s bedroom to find it empty, I stopped and looked around, seeing everything as if it was the first time I’d set foot inside. I ran my hands over her quirky clothes that were hanging in her wardrobe, inhaling her floral and peppery scent that warmed my blood. I read the spines of her book collection perched on the shelves and studied the little trinkets and items she had purposely used to decorate her space, each telling me a little more about the woman they belonged to.

Like how the candles with melted wax cascading down the sides and onto the surfaces and her love for historical romance showed me she was an old soul who preferred to read about epic love stories in the dark, warmed by candlelight. The pressed dead flowers she kept in glass frames around the room and hanging on the wall showed me she saw beauty where others saw sadness. The worn teddy that was missing an eye sitting on the trunk by the end of her bed told me she was sentimental and kept hold of the things she loved. The black walls and fluffy furniture perfectly captured her personality; a blend of feistiness and softness. I placed my hands on my hips and pressed my lips into a thin line. How had I not taken any notice of these things? How had I not paid any attention to the details?

Without my humanity, I had known that I loved her. I had known the woman she was by her actions and words, but I hadn’t bothered to open my fucking eyes and look. To really see her.

The door creaked open, and I turned my head as she walked into the room, freezing on the spot when she found me standing there. Her enchanting eyes locked with mine and a small gasp passed through her full lips. Seeing my natural eye colour must take some time to get used to. I stared at her lips. I couldn’t wait to taste them and feel how they stirred emotions in me just from their touch.

“Hi,” she breathed with a rare look of uncertainty on her alluring face as my gaze traced every feature.

“Hi.” I turned to face her, dropping my arms to the side as I drank in every inch of her. She was painfully beautiful. Not just in appearance but in every way. I took a few steps towards her, closing the distance and heightening the electric tension that surrounded us. Her eyes never left mine; even when I stopped so close in front of her, she had to crane her neck to look up.

She hesitantly lifted her hand and placed it on the side of my face. “I can’t believe how much an eye colour can change so much about someone’s face.”

I smiled. “Don’t tell me you no longer find me attractive? I’ll turn my humanity off immediately,” I joked and finally, I was rewarded with that breath-taking smile. My heart flipped and fluttered in my chest at the sight of it. It felt like I was drowning and soaring all at once.

She shook her head, still studying me. “No. Don’t do that. You’re beautiful, Luka. Eyes truly are the windows to the soul.”

“And what do you see in mine?” I whispered, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into my body. The feeling of her soft body that curved into my hard torso so perfectly felt like I’d finally come home.

Her pink eyes darted between mine, taking that question seriously as she searched. “Bravery. Strength. Determination. Vulnerability. Pain. Kindness. And a little bit of stubbornness.”

I ran my fingers along her cheekbones and traced the edge of her jawline before weaving them through her hair. Lowering my head slowly, I tilted her head upward and brushed her lips with mine. My eyes fluttered shut at the tingle that a simple touch caused, feeling it travel through my entire body. I felt a small puff of her breath leave her lips and I inhaled it through mine, wanting the very air that had once been in her lungs.

“Luka.”

My name came out as a breathless whimper of longing as I continued to barely kiss her, just relishing the feeling of being so close to everything I had always wanted but never thought I deserved. I knew I had kissed her hundreds of times before, and those kisses had meant something. They had been full of passion and intensity, but beneath it, there was always a deep-seated anger that lived inside me, that would never let me truly appreciate the simplicity of a kiss. In a way, this felt like I was about to experience my first kiss all over again. And I wanted to make it count.

“Just let mefeel,” I whispered, noticing how her body trembled in anticipation. Our noses brushed as I continued to tease her lips, flicking my tongue lightly over them and causing them to part wider as her breathing increased. I could hear her pounding heart and feel the rise and fall of her breasts against my chest. A sudden surge of desire and passion travelled through my veins, demanding I take what I needed from her, but I forced myself to have patience. To savour this.

When our lips finally locked, my grip on her hair tightened, and she rose to her tiptoes, her body flush against mine. Our lips moved together with tenderness and the love and happiness that I felt for this woman poured through our bond, making sure she felt just how much I adored her. She whimpered into the kiss when our tongues glided against each other in slow sweeps. It felt like I was falling. Falling into unknown territory and it fucking terrified me. It terrified me to love someone this much. But there was no denying it. There was no stopping it. There was no fighting it. I just had to embrace the fear because not loving her was impossible.

I broke the kiss reluctantly before it became too heated and held her face in my hands. Her eyes fluttered open in a blissful haze and she peered back into mine. A simple yet beautiful smile appeared as she literally breathed the word, “Woah.”

I smirked. “Don’t worry, love. I might kiss you like a gentleman now, but I will still fuck you like a beast.”

She giggled, her cheeks blushing with heat. “I was worried for a second there. Thought you’d gone all soft on me, Red.”

I dug the hardness of my cock into her stomach and raised my pierced eyebrow. “Really?”

She bit her lip seductively. I was ready to bend her over the bed and fuck her right there and then. But I stopped myself. Just like I wanted to make the most of that kiss between us, I wanted to make the first time we fucked with my humanity special, too. A plan formed in my mind. One that I had never had the capacity or means to achieve before. Stepping back from her, ignoring the flicker of disappointment on her face because she clearly thought we were about to fuck, I walked over to her table and lifted the bud of a dried rose with my finger.