Blakeshire (Insight #9)(84)
Glory glanced to the wall, to an image of Drake tracing Willow’s eyes as he searched there for something that she could not return. The fact that it was still echoing around me was not helping any insecurity that I had.
“For if one mere moment of this existed between us, in your past…wrath would be my only course of action when it came to the likes of you.” Glory glanced to me. “She is a stronger woman than I. She has already proven that by allowing him to breathe in her presence.”
I liked her. A lot. I nodded once as I let out an uneasy breath.
“As you wish, my sweet rush,” Vade said gently to her.
Glory turned and slowly walked to where I was standing. “Your energy is weak. Know that only one can empower you, and you must find that power with haste. Your kill will emerge in the image of another.” She reached for my chin and pressed her fingers firmly against my skin. “Strike here. Hard.” Her auburn eyes searched mine. “Go now, and speak the words you fear—for they are your life.”
A rush of energy surrounded me, taking my breath and seizing my heart.
How did I get over here? I thought as I felt my body gasping for air and found myself against the far wall of the kitchen. Drake was still sitting on the stool. His arms fell to his lap as if I had just vanished from them.
My mind was racing at mach speed. As I stared into his eyes, lifetimes, endless lifetimes were sliding through my thoughts. I felt every emotion as if it were raw, new, yet old. How was I doing that? Was it him? Were these his dreams? I squinted my eyes closed, then opened them again and dared to see him.
They were not coming from him. He did have some of these in his mind, but he was missing so many. Yet, the emotion that was coming from me and him was one in the same.
I felt like a horrible person. I needed proof to let myself feel this—he didn’t. My soul had to open a dam just to give my heart the courage to state what it felt.
I began to tremble as he slowly stood from where he was sitting.
“I’ve always loved you,” I blurted out. “I never stopped, and I never will.” I took in a jagged breath as my eyes glassed over. “You have the power to crush me—break me in two…and that…that terrifies me.”
I saw him sway as he braced his arm on the back of the chair. His breaths were deep and long as those eyes that would put the midnight hour to shame poured into my soul.
I wanted to go to him. I wanted to find a better way to say that to him. I wanted this to be a better memory, and not a reflection of my deepest fears and weaknesses. I wanted this to happen any other way than it just had. I mean, look at him. He could barely stand. I had knocked the life out of this boy. Why? How? What did I just do? How badly did I ruin this?
After one more deep breath, he began to move closer to me. I measured each step, took in the way the muscles in his long arms were flexing, the depth in his stare. I took it all in, waiting for a rejection. Waiting for him to tell me that his emotion was not as strong—or at the very least that now I had to share him.
When he reached me, his strong hand cradled my face, causing me to quiver. Tenderly, he pulled me to his lush lips; I sighed feeling the warmth of them against mine.
Though his touch was brief, it slammed into my core, leading me past any physical ecstasy that we had experienced together.
“You are my first love, my last love. You are the woman that I will love forevermore, throughout all of eternity.”
My knees buckled, but his instant reflexes caught me before I could completely fall to the floor.
“You’re trembling,” he said in a quiet, deep voice.
I could not meet his gaze. I could not comprehend how I went from plotting to find a body I had lived in forever ago to this. How did I get here?
“I have fallen from grace,” he whispered as his lips brushed across my forehead and he pulled me against his firm body. “I don’t deserve you. I know that.”
My breath caught as I waited for the rejection to come from his next words.
“I know that I have disgraced the loyalty that you demand…but you have to know that the first thing I thought when I looked into your eyes was ‘Where have you been?’ You caused an instant explosion in my soul, one that was so perfect, so beautiful that I had no choice but to believe that it was too good to be true, that you could not be real. That my deepest desires had manifested this beautiful being just so I would know how unworthy I really was. Just so I would know that I had let evil inside of me, and it was not going to stop until I was consumed with utter, lonely darkness.”
He reached for my hand and placed it on his chest so I could feel his thundering heart. “I have lost you far too many times to ever let that happen again. Tell me you can feel my love.”
All the adrenaline that had rushed through my body was fading away, leaving me weak and breathless. I leaned my head against the wall behind me. “I felt it at first glance.”
He smiled. Oh God, that smile could halt the entire universe. It was just that perfect.
I let out another breath. “I was mad at you.”
Guilt took over his emotion.
I reached for his neck and pulled his forehead to mine, still having a hard time holding his gaze but needing to feel his skin against mine. “The anger should have told you that I love you.” My hand tightened around his jawline. “Because if I wasn’t angry, then that meant I didn’t care.”