In the Veins of the Drowning

You are . . . You're one ambush after the next and I have yet to get my bearings.

He spoke over my lips. “What I feel for you is beyond reason—beyond duty and desire. You have tipped my whole world on its side, and you are the one clear thing in the chaos.” His nose brushed the end of mine. “You. I want you.

You have shone a light on me. You made me feel fury and terror and joy and longing. How do I curl myself back into the darkness after being so alive?

I called you a gnat, and I detest myself for it. I am the bug. A moth. And you are the moon. Drawing me, pulling me. But I’ll never be able to reach you without destroying myself. All I can do is pray for the day.” He gave me a pleading look. “Do you understand? I am doing my very best to keep a grip on myself, to keep my distance, but everything you do seems in service of thwarting that goal.

For awful things filled empty spaces. And it was in the darkest, deepest part of the sea that monsters were made.

All my life I’d thought being docile and obedient would give me a sort of strength, safety. But I’d made myself fragile instead.

Emotion etched his face. "You fill my every sense. You stalk my waking mind. You make up the entirety of my dreams.

I yearned for power too. I yearned for the freedom and choice and protection it could offer.

What I feel for you is beyond reason—beyond duty and desire. You have tipped my whole world on its side, and you are the one clear thing in the chaos.” His nose brushed the end of mine. “You. I want you.

Lay a hand on my wife and you’ll lose it.” Theodore gripped the hilt of the dagger.

I see what’s between you two. It’s barbed and messy, but there’s something there.

You are lovely. You’re charming, and if our circumstances were different, I’d likely enjoy a meal with you, bask in your wit, but as it is your beauty and charm are like gnats that I must swat away from my eyes to keep my vision clear. Your qualities are wasted on me. They do not matter, because your purpose and power exceed them.

Right before it reached her - right before I woke - I realized: I was the women. I was the water. I was the monster.

Someday,” she whispered, as her fingers played through my damp hair, “you will have a full life. A home, if you want one. And you’ll see more than these stones and mountains and sky. And I’ll be with you when you first touch the sea. You’ll feel sand between your toes, and salt water on your tongue, and you will feel more joy than you can fathom. I promise.

There were women—I’d seen them—who were lit from within, and when they became wives that light dampened. I did not know if it was their husbands that doused their flame, or if they themselves curled up around it, their very souls trying to protect it from extinguishing. Regardless, I had been prepared to watch myself dim. But Evander’s touch lit sparks inside me, and somehow, he coaxed the light within to burn brighter, to burn steadily.

I gave him a full smile. He stopped us. “Again.” “Again, what?” “Smile like that again.

Lay a hand on my wife and you’ll lose it.

You are so determined to believe you are some dark harbinger

I have never wanted anything…” He paused. “… the way I want you.

Don’t think me selfish,” I breathed. “Don’t resent me for this when I should be finding and reading those books. When I should be taking that severing draught.” There was agony in his look. “If you are selfish”—he gave me a deep

I kissed him like he was air

I cannot even see her for the way you encompass me.” Emotion etched his face. “You fill my every sense. You stalk my waking mind. You make up the entirety of my dreams. I couldn’t speak to you after what Lachlan said because it shocked me—that he was right. About what I feel—

Of all the beautiful women I’ve thrown at you over the years.” Lachlan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of all the very eligible

I’ll curse the Gods for this until I die. I finally have you naked in a bed and I can barely move.

You are a Goddess-queen. Take what you want while you can.

There is a crown. Ripped

I’d be rid of the deception of a blood bond that made me want a man I could never have.

You’re deserving because I say you are.

It’s Nemea who has used you since you were a child. Nemea who knew what you were and carved fear into you. He bent you into the shape he desired. And even after all that mistreatment you did not break. In spite of him