He is Death, and Death is my savior.
Even in my darkest times, it’s him I think about. It’s him who brushes against my skin and makes me forget all the troubles in the world.
How can I give a man that much power?
Why not? My subconscious fights back. Why not?
He kisses me back, like I knew he would. Even if he never makes the first move, I know he wants me as much as I want him.
I can feel it in the air. Taste it when he’s near.
Just as I know he can with me.
We’ve been dancing this dance for so long that it’s time for the waltz to come to an end and our steps to collide.
I hear my name, know my sister is there, but my lips don’t stop moving. My hands hold him to me, unable to let him escape. I want him in this position for as long as I can keep him here.
I want him.
It’s as simple as that.
Why can’t he take me away from this place?
Why can’t he save me again?
“Talia?” He breaks the kiss first but not the connection between our bodies. I catch my breath and lay my head on his chest. “Talia.” I pull away now and look over Grim’s shoulder to see my sister standing there with John, both of them wide-eyed as they stare at us. “How did you stop that?” she asks Grim, and I look to where her eyes are to see that the roof has caved in and the walls have cracks in them.
“What happened?” I ask, pulling away and putting distance between Grim and me.
“You did. You got so angry…” John says, shaking his head and looking around before his eyes fall to Grim. “When he touched you, the house stopped shaking.”
“Must be your magic touch,” I joke to Grim, who does not joke back with me at all. In fact, everyone is giving me a what-the-fuck look.
“Patrick died,” I say after a moment of silence.
Tatiana’s head drops and I fall back to the floor.
This time, the tears cannot be stopped.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Grim stays, which he never does. John tells him where I’ve been, but none of them know what really happened. None of them know the full story. I pull myself from Grim and head to the bathroom. I need to shower, brush my teeth, eat and drink. The weight of what happened keeps pulling me down, and so it should. But sitting here crying will not get me any closer to killing the queen for what she has done. And that bitch needs to pay dearly.
Opening the bathroom door, I see everything is still as we left it. I tear the clothes from my body and turn on the shower. When I turn around, I see Grim standing at the door, his back to me, being respectful.
“Grim.”
“Hmmm,” is all I get back in response.
“Grim,” I say again.
“Yes,” he answers clearly now.
“Turn around.” My voice is certain.
He does as I say and slowly turns until he is facing me. His eyes stay level with mine, not dropping. He is respectful when he shouldn’t be… when I don’t want him to be.
“She made me lie in my own urine for days,” I say to him, stepping into the shower but leaving the door open and turning to my side so I can wash my body. The warm water feels good on my skin and a soft moan leaves my mouth. When I turn to look at Grim, his mouth is a tight line. “Do you get…” my eyes fall to what is between his legs before I finish, “…excited?” He raises an eyebrow at my words. “Do you?”
“Are you asking if I have the same functions as someone from earth?”
I nod my head, wanting to know.
“Yes, Talia. I see your body and appreciate that it’s created by the highest of gods. We have desire, like any creature. But no, we do not see a woman and grow hard for one, as your men like to say. Not in all my years have I wanted another woman as I have wanted you.”
Pulling my head back at his words, I let the water soak over me, washing away all the sharp smells that still cover my body from that place.
He wants me.
It’s the thought that keeps entering my mind.
Turning back, I see him watching me. “Why are you still here? You never stay.”
“Because you want me here.”
“What if I asked you to leave?”
“Then I shall leave.”
I step out of the shower, turning it off, and walk toward him, now clean but dripping in water.
“What if I asked you to undress, would you appease me?” The words leave my mouth in almost a whisper, but he doesn’t miss a beat and hears every word.
“If you want me to, I would.”
I’m screaming inside my head to ask him to, to tell him to leave everything that the outside world wants from us and only think of the now.