A Dark and Stormy Knight by Essex Bridget

Author:Essex, Bridget [Essex, Bridget]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Rose and Star Press
Published: 2016-06-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: A Goldfish Breakfast

Charaxus stiffens against me, and she stares into my eyes, her own wide and achingly blue.

I hold her gaze, my heart hurting so terribly, I resist the urge to double over in pain.

“Hey, Mara?” calls Iris from the other side of the door, “Sammie’s whining… Should I let him out?”

I blink a little, and then I glance at the wall clock beside my bedroom door.

How is that possible?

It’s noon.

“Oh, crap, yeah, Iris. That’d be great!” I call to her, and then I move my fingers out of Charaxus a little awkwardly as we both sink onto our heels. I draw in a deep breath, gazing at Charaxus, and there’s so much regret moving through me…

Slowly, Charaxus composes herself, shoving her hair over her shoulders, a mask of serenity descending over her features. She sits back on her heels, and she places her hands on her thighs, seeking my gaze.

“Mara… I didn’t know how much I needed that. How much I needed you,” she tells me, and that perfect, gracious mask of serenity almost cracks as she looks at me, as something fleeting passes over her face: true pain. It’s quickly replaced by stillness. She sighs. “Mara…”

I lick my lips as her voice trails off. We both know that she has to go.

“It’s…late,” she murmurs then, clearing her throat, sadness in her voice. But then she sighs, and she attempts to lighten her tone just a little, though the words break at the end: “I…I must find the shard.” I watch unhappily as a few expressions flit over Charaxus’ face, finally ending on broken-heartedness. And, yeah, that last one stays.

“I am sorry. Truly, I am sorry,” she whispers to me then, and her voice is hoarse. She leans forward on her knees, and she presses a kiss to my cheek. It’s pretty chaste, and in its chasteness, it’s shattering. She leans back onto her heels, and then she’s standing, raking her fingers through her hair in frustration before offering a hand down to me.

I take her hand, and she pulls me up gently, her arms flexing. We keep a careful gap between us, not that it matters. Her sex still gleams on my mouth, along her thighs, on my fingers, and the electricity crackles between us. Keeping our distance from one another isn’t going to change anything—but it’s all we know how to do.

“The circumstances that brought us together... It seems as if an ill star follows us,” she says flatly, glancing at me. “I have wanted…” Emotion makes her voice tremble, and she clears her voice again, leaning away, her dark hair sweeping in front of her face. She's hiding herself from me; I can’t see her profile anymore. But she draws in a deep breath, and then she’s saying, “Mara, I have waited for you. I have looked for you. And now you come to me in my darkest hour. I wish that you had come sooner.”

I am utterly gutted.

My longing for Charaxus is something that’s alive inside of me, this insistent need.

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