Page 45 of Sophie’s Ruin (Crimson and Shadows #2)

“It’s healed,” I murmured, running my fingertips over Henry’s smooth chest. “I was afraid it would scar.”

Catching my hand in his, he brought it to his lips and kissed the pads of my fingers.

He was still inside me, our chests rising and falling shallowly after what we’d just shared.

My knees on either side of his hips, I was straddling him, and he was sitting upright, his back propped against the headboard.

“Of course, it’s healed,” he said low, turning my hand to brush his lips over my knuckles.

I couldn’t take my gaze away from his chest, where I swore I could still see the wound I’d inflicted.

“Don’t do that,” Henry said quietly, gently guiding my chin up with his thumb and index finger. I knew my eyes were glistening when my gaze met his. “Don’t think about that. It’s in the past.”

A ragged exhale left me, and I buried my face under his chin, trying to fend off the tears.

His fingers threaded through my hair, and he held me there as our breathing and our heartbeats slowed.

I managed not to cry this time, which was an improvement.

During the last few days, I’d broken down many times, with Henry always there to help put me back together.

“We need to get ready,” he said after a few minutes, untangling his fingers from my hair. He glided them down my bare back, massaging it in the process. “The clan leaders will be here soon.”

His words instantly flung me to the past, as if I’d glimmered myself to the last time we’d met with the clans. Horrible memories of that night invaded my mind.

With a sigh, I lifted my head from Henry’s chest and met his stormy blue gaze.

“Tonight feels a lot like that night weeks ago when everything went very, very wrong,” I said in a hushed tone.

Henry’s perfect features tautened. A muscle flexed along his jaw before he said, “I know, but we have to do this. We have to try. My hope is that tonight will go differently.”

“It has to,” I told him. “I can’t go through that again.”

His understanding gaze flicked over my features. “Come here.”

He pushed on my lower back, and I gasped when his rigid length shifted inside me. He was ready to go again, but I knew we wouldn’t when the kiss he gave me was tender and sweet, not hungry and demanding.

“I feel like we are so close to our new life,” he whispered against my lips. “That’s all I want. A new life. With you.”

My heart squeezed in my chest.

“It’s all I want as well.”

“Then, let’s go and make it happen. Together.” He rested his forehead against mine. We shared a breath before I pulled away and eased off him.

We quickly showered and got dressed, debating whether or not to wear our armor.

“I don’t want to send the wrong message,” Henry said, clutching his leathers in his hand. “If the clan leaders get here and see us in our fighting gear, they will immediately go on the defensive.”

I heaved a heavy sigh. He was right. We had to take the risk and hope that the meeting tonight would go differently, and we needed to do anything in our power to help ensure that.

Tonight felt a lot like the night from a few weeks ago, but it also felt different.

The pressure on my chest was not as tight and constricting as it had been then.

The feeling inside was more of unease than foreboding.

Perhaps the threads were telling me that everything would be okay.

“I think you’re right,” I told Henry, setting my own leathers aside.

Just my teal dress and leggings then, I thought, stepping closer to the vanity.

While I brushed my hair, Henry put away our fighting gear in the tall dresser behind me.

When he turned around and faced the vanity, I let my gaze roam over his reflection.

Dressed in a plain white shirt and black breeches, he looked like he had on the night of the Selection.

Even his hair looked like it had then, swept back to reveal his masculine features.

I had the urge to run my fingers through the glossy mane to dishevel it, and one side of my mouth ticked up at the thought.

“What is it?” Henry asked, coming to stand directly behind me. When he wrapped his arms around my waist, I relaxed into his hold, reveling in the feel of his strong body against mine.

“You look so well put-together,” I told him, setting the brush on the vanity. “I can’t decide if I like this look more, or the unruly, wild one you wear sometimes.”

Henry smirked but didn’t say anything as I let my head fall back against his chest. We stood in silence for a few seconds, simply enjoying the moment of quiet peace.

“I think I love all your looks,” I said, turning around to face him. I slid my hands up his powerful body and wrapped them around his neck. “I love you,” I told him, staring into his eyes. I made sure to tell him every day now.

“I don’t think I will ever tire of hearing you say it,” he murmured, as the black from his pupils began bleeding into the deep blue of his irises.

“I’ll never get tired of saying it,” I assured him with a soft smile.

Stark lust sharpened his features a moment before he brought his lips to mine.

There was a hunger to the kiss that hadn’t been there earlier, and I opened up for him, wondering if we had time to go again before the clans arrived.

Henry was determined to make time, it seemed, because he lifted me off the floor and sat me on the edge of the vanity, parting my thighs to step between them.

I wrapped my legs around his hips, and we both gasped as our bodies aligned.

He ground into me, eliciting a breathy moan as tension began building inside me.

His hands dove under my dress while mine went to his breeches.

He yanked my leggings and undergarments down, and I almost freed him from his pants…

when a knock sounded. We both froze, and Henry broke the kiss.

“The clans will be here any minute,” came Isabelle’s voice, causing Henry to growl in frustration. Isabelle huffed out a laugh on the other side of the door. “You’ll have to finish what you started later. You’ll be fine. You two have an eternity together, after all.”

We’d told Isabelle days ago about our plan to get married, and she hadn’t been surprised. Her big brown eyes had locked on me when we’d announced the news.

I told you his feelings for you wouldn’t change, the look had conveyed.

“We’ll be right there!” Henry snapped, and I stifled a laugh. Usually, he was the voice of reason, but it seemed right now his desire for me was stronger than his sense of duty.

“She’s right, you know,” I said, as I unwrapped my legs from around his hips. “If everything goes well tonight, we’ll have an eternity together.”

“It won’t be long enough,” he said with a heavy sigh.

A short laugh did burst out of me then.

“No?” I teased, arching a brow.

“No,” he assured me, his expression serious. “Because when it comes to you, I’m ravenous. I will never get enough of you.”

My heart sped up in my chest at his words. He was right—an eternity would not be enough, because when it came to him, I was insatiable. The more I got of him, the more I craved him.

“Ready?” he asked, seemingly having regained his composure.

When I nodded, he lowered me from the vanity and helped me pull up my leggings. While I rightened my dress, he straightened his breeches.

“I’m glad you got it back,” he said, and I found him watching me, his gaze fastened on the Tear pulsing on my chest.

I’d gotten the amulet back from Amelie the other night after my training session with Celeste. I still felt unworthy of wearing it, but Henry had insisted the Tear belonged with me.

“I wanted to wear it tonight to remind the clans I still had the means to destroy them,” I said, more to myself than to him.

“Great idea, though I doubt they need a reminder. I think everyone is acutely aware of what a powerful witch you are,” Henry pointed out.

Good, I thought, I want them to fear me. I planned never to use my magic to hurt anyone ever again, but the clans didn’t need to know that. I wanted them to believe that if I ever felt threatened again, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill them in the most gruesome way possible.

Lifting his hand to my chest, Henry tucked the locket holding the portrait of my mother under the collar of my dress and righted the Tear atop it. When he was done, I turned away from him and quickly smoothed out my unbound hair before giving my reflection a nod of encouragement.

“I’m ready,” I said, as I faced Henry again.

He clasped my hand, and together, we left the bedroom and walked to the study where Isabelle and Wren already waited.

“Are you sure he needs to be a part of this?” Isabelle asked after we’d joined them.

Her voice shook slightly, betraying her nervousness.

She wanted Wren out of the house while it was teeming with vampires, and I didn’t blame her, but he had to stay.

We wanted to do everything right this time, which meant including a human in the conversation about the future of the Empire.

Madam St. Clair, the human Governess of New Haven, would have been our first choice, but she still hadn’t returned from up north.

Waylon was the second choice, but after I’d saved Henry and set out on my quest for vengeance, he had left the White Witches’ settlement and set out on his own mission to spread the word that the Dark Witches were no more.

Once the news had reached those who’d traveled away before the war, they’d begun trickling back to their home regions.

My father hadn’t returned yet, but every day, more and more humans arrived in New Haven, so I hoped to see him soon.

A knock sounded on the front door of the mansion, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Everyone stilled, instantly on edge. Henry’s unease was palpable as his hand tightened around mine.

I waited for him to pull me in the direction of the foyer, but he hesitated.

When I gave him a questioning look, his deep-blue gaze fastened on me, and my breath hitched at what I saw in his eyes.

Fear. All color had drained from his face, and his muscles had coiled so tight that I was afraid they might snap.

Understanding washed over me then. He was hesitating because the last time we’d met with the clan leaders, days of torture had ensued for him.

Turning to face him fully, I placed my free hand over his racing heart. My chest was painfully tight as I stared at him. Moments like these were rare, when he let me glimpse how much what he’d endured truly affected him.

“Breathe with me,” I said, looking into his eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Gaze locked on mine, he covered my hand on his chest with his, and inhaled and exhaled deeply, matching my breathing.

After a few seconds, when his heartbeat had evened out, he gave a small nod and lowered my hand from his chest. Together, we turned toward the study door and walked out into the foyer.