Black Heart Blooming by Alexa Piper

Author:Alexa Piper [Piper, Alexa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-11-09T18:30:00+00:00

fourteen

CHERRY BLOSSOMS

I hadn’t styled myself the Black Shuck, but the name fit. Best not to see the red-eyed dog of dark omens, best for people to stay away from it. People didn’t always keep their distance like they should.

I’d dozed while Amory had slept. I blamed the stupid flimsy door, I blamed his scent, salt and lust, yesterday’s candy floss and happiness. Sometime around noon, he’d started stirring, ending up on my chest, head resting where my heartbeat had to chase him into his dreams. His breaths, warm and measured, had become a hypnotic metronome, which was why I noticed immediately when he fell out of deep sleep.

“Good morning, Amory,” I said when he started moving, when his eyelashes feathered over my chest as he blinked.

“Morning. Sorry I used you as a pillow there.” His voice was a little rough with sleep. Or with overuse from yesterday’s noises of pleasure. He managed to lie next to me, the bed so small he had to stay touching close. I kept my arm around him in case he moved too close to the edge.

“I don’t mind. How are you feeling?”

He shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

“The soreness will pass. I don’t think you bled, but small amounts of blood are nothing to worry about.”

That made him immediately tense. I tried to recall when people had lost the ability to openly talk about sex and had to conclude that I despised both the puritans and the patriarchy. Thank fuck for queer people dedicated to bringing sex education to the masses on YouTube.

“You’re an assassin telling me not to worry about blood. Hilarious,” Amory said to cover his embarrassment. He froze. “Shit. We didn’t use protection, and I’m not on PrEP. I never thought—”

I reeled him in, bringing the outline of his mouth and lips level with mine so I could kiss the thinking out of him. Truth be told, I was glad he’d ended up with me and not any stupid fuck he might have hooked up with on the next best dating app.

I said, “I just died the other day, Amory. I didn’t acquire any transmissible disease since then. You’ll be fine. I’d never have done this if I had reason to think you wouldn’t be.”

He relaxed. Tensed again. “You’re saying you hit the reset button when you, erm…” He patted my chest, just above where my heart was beating.

The reset button. I’d never thought about it that way, but he wasn’t wrong.

“Yes. I caught dysentery at some point and didn’t want to have to endure that,” I said instead of telling him about that one time I got bitten by a fox and died through rabies. That had been a wild ride. “I decided dying was the better option.” And I should have done the same that one time with the rabies, but sort of missed the opportunity. Ugh. “Death, in my case, is a cure-all.”

I could see him frown his worry lines even in the mostly dark room and tugged him back against my chest.

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