Page 53 of Sophie’s Ruin (Crimson and Shadows #2)

HENRY

My wife. The two words kept replaying in my lust-addled mind as I held her in my arms. My wife, my everything.

When she’d found her release, I’d seen stars as she’d dragged me over the edge along with her.

She’d held me as bolts of intense pleasure darted through me.

She’d held me even though she’d still been shaking from her own release.

We were holding each other now, waiting for our heartbeats and breathing to slow.

When my mind had cleared enough for me to form coherent thoughts, I lifted my head from her neck and rested my forehead on hers, breathing her in.

“Two hundred years,” I said low.

“What?” she asked, even though she’d heard me.

“Two hundred years I have waited for you.”

“Was it worth it?” she breathed.

I lifted my head and looked into her eyes. She stared back at me with a soft smile—she already knew the answer.

“Yes. A million times, yes,” I told her anyway.

Her smile grew before it faded.

“Thank you,” she rasped, her eyes wet with unshed tears.

“For what?” I asked, my brows knitting.

“For waiting for me. For choosing me. For fighting for me.” A tear escaped, rolling down the side of her face and soaking into the covers.

I stared at her in astonishment. She was the strongest creature I had ever known, yet right now, she was allowing herself to be weak. She was baring her soul before me, and I knew that for her, doing so took greater strength than defeating the Dark Witches or the darkness within.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

For saying that, for being vulnerable with me, for letting me be the only one to see that side of you, I wanted to add, but the words wouldn’t come.

So, instead of speaking, I sealed my mouth to hers.

When her perfect lips parted, I glided my tongue over hers, and she moaned, sinking her fingers in my hair.

The soft sound ignited my blood, which still hadn’t cooled from earlier.

I grew hard and thick inside her, and she gasped, arching her back and tilting her hips.

“Fuck,” I groaned, feeling another release tingling down my spine.

Not yet, I thought as I withdrew, chuckling low when she whimpered in protest.

I quickly shrugged off my shirt and reached to pull her wedding dress over her head.

“Get on your hands and knees,” I said, casting it aside.

The heat in Sophie’s eyes intensified, and the salacious look she gave me had me pumping myself while I waited for her to get in position.

When she had, I grabbed her hips and thrust in, eliciting a moan from her that nearly undid me.

My head fell back, my eyes drifting closed, as I moved inside her, not truly believing this was my life.

Two hundred years I had waited for her and now I had her.

She was mine, and I could never get enough.

SOPHIE

My skin prickled with awareness as it always did right before sunrise.

Hide, it’s a new day, the tingling sensation warned.

It was a new day, but I no longer had to hide. Opening my eyes, I blinked away the remnants of my sleep and looked at Henry sleeping peacefully beside me. His left hand rested on his bare stomach, and when my gaze snagged on the golden band on his finger, my heartbeat sped up in my chest.

The ring was a promise, a declaration of love, but it was also more. So much more. Exhaling softly, I reached out and threaded my fingers through his. Henry shifted next to me, stirring from his slumber. His deep-blue eyes fastened on me as soon as they opened.

“What are you doing up?” he asked, his voice gruff from sleep.

“Good morning.” I smiled at him instead of responding.

“Good morning…” he said, his brow furrowing.

Such a simple phrase. Yet, as vampires, we never uttered the two simple words. After all, morning was never good. It was the evil that brought painful death or banished us to the shadows. No more. Not for us.

“I need to show you something,” I said, pulling my hand away from Henry’s.

His grip on my fingers tightened a second before he let go.

I left the bed but didn’t go far, standing by the edge, looking at him expectantly. His hooded eyes turned darker as he took in my naked form.

“I think I like where this is going,” he teased, one side of his mouth turning up.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, sending waves of my hair over my bare shoulders.

“Later,” I said with a small smile, turning away from him.

A pulse of desire rippled through me, but I shoved it aside as I stepped closer to the window.

“What are you doing?” Henry asked, sitting up in the bed. His tone was wary and for a good reason. I stood before the window now. “Sophie…” he warned as I reached for the curtains.

When I turned my head to look at him, he was crouched on top of the covers, his muscles tense as if he were going to shoot off the bed at any moment to tackle me away from the window.

“Do you trust me?” I asked him, as I hooked my thumbs between the drapes that were still sealed tight.

Henry’s gaze darted to my fingers before returning to my face.

“You’re scaring me…”

I arched a brow instead of repeating my question.

Henry’s gaze darted back to my hands on the curtains, then back to me. He searched my face for a few moments. Whatever he saw must have given him the confirmation he’d needed.

“Always,” he finally said, with a heavy sigh.

With a nod, I turned back to the window.

“Sophie!” I heard Henry’s panicked shout a second before I pulled open the drapes.

The night sky greeted me, but the sunrise was close. The clouds were already catching the first pink, orange, and red hues of the sun that was still below the horizon. We didn’t have much time.

When I looked back at Henry, he was on the other side of the room, standing flat against the wall. He’d scrambled off the bed and thrown himself there when I’d opened the curtains. I’d never seen his eyes so wide as he stared at me. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes.

“How is this possible?” he finally rasped. “Is it because of your magic?”

I walked over to him and extended my hand.

“Come with me,” I said low as a smile pulled at my lips.

“Me?” His tone was guarded.

“Yes, you.” I laughed softly. “You will always come with me. Wherever I go. If I will stand before the rising sun, then so will you.”

Henry’s lips parted slightly as he looked past me, toward the window. I could see impossible longing etched into his striking features. His expression became almost pained, as if he wanted to believe something so badly it hurt.

His stormy gaze returned to mine.

Trust me, I pleaded with my eyes.

Always, he gave a small nod as he put his hand in mine.

I led him to the window, and he followed slowly, hesitantly, his breathing speeding up the closer we got to our destination.

When I stepped into the early morning light, Henry stopped abruptly on the other side of the line that separated where I stood from the shadowy part of the room.

His eyes glistened with tears as he watched me, his gaze like a caress gliding down my body bathed in the glow of the lightening sky.

“One more step,” I urged him, reaching for his other hand.

He let me take it and pull him gently toward me.

I heard a sharp intake of his breath as he willed his legs to move.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he put one foot in front of the other and stepped closer to me.

He stood frozen before me, and I didn’t think he was breathing.

Reaching up, I brushed my lips over the hard line of his jaw, which was clenched so tight that the tendons in his neck stood out.

“Open your eyes,” I whispered against his lips. “You wouldn’t want to miss it.”

A few more moments passed before Henry unclenched his jaw and released a shuddering breath.

Slowly, he pried his lashes apart and looked at me.

Awe and confusion were carved into his features.

Then he turned his head toward the window, and I watched him as he took in the sight before him.

The sky at the horizon was a bright orange hue now, pouring a warm glow over the landscape.

“How is this possible?” he asked again, turning back to me. “Is it your magic? Are you projecting it onto me somehow?” His gaze dropped to our joint hands.

My gaze lowered to them as well before I lifted it back up to his face.

“It is my magic,” I told him, smiling softly. “But I’m not projecting it onto you.”

Slowly, I slid my hands from his, and Henry’s fingers closed around thin air as he tried to hold on.

He squeezed his eyes shut again and jerked his face away from the window, expecting to burst into flames.

A few seconds later, when he didn’t, he cracked open one eye, then the other and turned back to face me again.

“It’s the rings,” I whispered as we stared at each other. “I used my magic to create them.” Henry scowled. “Light magic,” I quickly added to put him at ease.

“Like your mother created the Tear?” he asked, his taut features smoothing out.

“Yes. Only the objects I created allow us to walk in daylight.”

Henry didn’t say anything for a long time. I’d expected his gaze to be glued to the horizon, to the first sunrise he’d experienced in almost two hundred years, but instead, he was staring at me.

“Sophie, this is incredible,” he finally said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

“Consider it a wedding gift,” I rasped, getting choked up.

“Thank you.” He lifted his hands to cup my face. “This means so much. I am grateful beyond words, but you already gave me the best gift I could have ever asked for. You said yes,” he whispered softly as a little smile graced his lips.

“Of course I said yes,” I whispered back.

“With you is where I belong,” I repeated the words he’d spoken to me when he’d proposed.

“If I have your heart, then you have mine. Or perhaps it’s just one heart beating in both of us.

Two halves of one whole, because only when I’m with you do I feel complete. I love you.”

I didn’t realize that tears were streaming down my face until Henry gently wiped them away.

He kissed me then, and it was tender and sweet, but also raw and overwhelming, just like my feelings for him.

When his lips left mine, he turned me toward the window and moved behind me, folding his arms around my waist.

“I love you,” he whispered into my ear, as the sun finally crested the horizon, casting a rosy hue across the morning sky and lighting up the world with the glow of a new day.