Page 27 of Condemned By Betrayal
I drag my attention away from the storm of his heated stare and let it settle on his lips, and the illusion those eyes and voice have wrapped me in shatters. Nausea rises up my throat, and before I can stop it, I puke. All over him. All over me.
“Fuck. Sorry,” I mumble, wiping my mouth.
He looks down at the mess I’ve made on both of us, then rises unhurriedly, as if he isn’t covered in my vomit.
It must be so revolting, why isn’t he throwing up?
So unattractive, Elowen.
I make a mental note in my spinning head: I will never drink again. I think I say that mental note out loud, before the spinning inside turns into spinning outside as I start to get up, and I fall. Not onto the ground or the bench. Into an embrace I’d almost accepted only death would bring me back to.
“I missed you,” I murmur, letting my eyes fall shut as I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Do you know I was planning to die after I set this entire city rebuild in motion, because I thought you were dead?” I slur, my voice thick.
He doesn’t say anything, but his grip cinches around my shoulders and thighs, pulling me tight against his chest, as if a loose hold might give someone the chance to snatch me from his arms.
I slowly drift into sleep, but a sudden, jarring movement pulls me upright. One moment I’m sinking into the best kind of warmth in the world, the next I’m standing on my feet, dragged back into awareness too fast to make sense of it.
“But then you came,” I mumble, trying to remember what I was saying a second ago—no, a minute ago—no, maybe an hour ago, and lock my arms around him.
He smells awful, then it dawns on me: it’s my vomit on him. I stumble back and force my eyes open, but they close again as warm water sprays over them.
I sway under the water, but I don’t fall, two strong hands have clutched my arms.
“Do you like my new haircut?” I drawl.
“No.”
“I knew it. But I still did it because I’m mad at you. You lied to me,” I slur, petulantly, eyes still closed.
“When?”
“You said you’d given up on your revenge, but you didn’t. Will you do that again?” I move back from the water and open my eyes. Two Salvarios are swaying in front of me. “I won’t forgive you this time. I’ll hate you forever.”
My words aren’t entirely coherent, but I know he understands them, he always does. He doesn’t even need words to understand me.
“I won’t do anything that could make you hate me.”
I grin, swaying forward, falling into his chest. Now it doesn’t smell bad, it smells delicious. Like something I should bite. So I do. I sink my teeth into the hard muscle of his chest through his shirt. Only a small piece comes between my teeth.
A low groan vibrates through him before he pushes me back.
I pout, looking up at him through the spray. “What’s your problem?”
“I should ask you that,” he hisses.
I move forward, but he holds me back. “I want to eat you a little. Don’t be stingy—let me.”
He shakes me. “Do you know who I am?”
I nod, my head bobbing like a malfunctioning doll. “You’re a tyrant, a monster, a liar, a grumpy old man.” I grin. “I just called you old. Won’t you punish me?”
“I’m not Salvario,” he bites out, his voice hard and cold, but his attempt at sounding so doesn’t work. I’m not buying it.
I sway forward. “Liar.”
The water shuts off from above. He pulls me out of the shower and sits me on the edge of the bathtub. I press my head against the wall and watch him.
