Page 62 of Fathom
She reached for me, and when her fingers curled around mine, the touch of her soft skin against my palm sent electric awareness racing up my arms. My claws twitched with restraint.
"Run away with me, and we’ll get through this together," she said.
We’ll get through this together.
That was all I needed.
Those words slipped past the barriers I’d been building since the moment her teeth sank into that steak. They pierced straight into my heart and tore the wall down brick by brick.
"You didn’t have to eat the meat," I told her, my voice low. But even as I said it, I knew the truth: nothing I could have done would’ve had the same impact as what she chose to do. If I’d eaten the steak, it might have earned me leverage. Power. Enough to keep her safe, to send her home even as I struggled with feeding the addiction rather than freeing myself from it. But her eating it? That changed everything. That gave her options. It cracked something open in my parents that I couldn’t have touched on my own. "The reason I chained myself in my room is that once you start eating meat in enough quantity, stopping it causes madness."
She looked down at where our hands were still joined, her fingers curled around mine.
"I won’t eat any more," she said softly, eyes still lowered. "Though you should know that my species doesn’t... have problems... if we eat meat and then stop. At least... I don’t think we do. Our meat doesn’t come from sentient creatures. Or, at least, I don’tthinkthey’re sentient. I wasn’t sure before, but..." She hesitated, her voice growing smaller as a pale look crossed her face. "I couldn't be sure, but Eun, tell me, what I ate tonight, did that used to be a person? I really hope it wasn't. But Eun, I couldn't let you eat it. Not when they were forcing you like that."
Her words hit me like a slap.
She didn't know for certain what she was eating, but she knew what it would have done to me to touch that plate after finally getting clean.
And she chose to bear itinstead.
"You did that for me," I whispered. I released her hand, slipping my arm around her waist and drawing her against my chest. My other hand lifted to her chin, tilting her face up until her eyes met mine.
"You ate that tosaveme from it."
"Yes," she said, her breath trembling across her lips. Her tongue darted out to wet them, and I nearly lost my breath.
"You didn’t have to," I murmured. "I would have done it. I would’ve played their game. Followed their rules. If that’s what it took to keep you safe, I would have."
"I know," she said, eyes locked with mine. "I know you would have."
"Thenwhy?" I asked, heart pounding like a drum in my ears.
She hesitated.
"Tell me," I ordered, voice quiet but unyielding.
"It's because I love you," she said.
The words struck like lightning, caged within the fragile box of my chest, ricocheting off ribs and bone and breath until my entire body felt like it was burning from the inside out. But she didn’t stop to let me absorb them. She pressed forward, raw and real.
"It’s because I wanted to do something for you. Because I needed to do something forme.To take care of myself for once."
She faltered, as if she hadn’t wanted to say that last part.
"Tell me every part of it," I whispered, leaning in. She bent back under my approach, her spine curving, lips tilted toward mine, eyes wide and shining.
There was one more truth I needed. One last piece that would confirm the storm I saw inside her during dinner was no illusion.
"I was hungry," she said.
She tried to look away, but I caught her chin, holding her still, forcing her to stay in the moment with me. No escape. Not from this.
I could smell it on her, grease and fat and the wild, unspoken truth of what she’d done. It clung to her mouth like perfume, twined with her natural scent, richer now. Earthier.
"You were hungry," I echoed, voice low.
"My body needed it. It was delicious," she breathed, the word trembling in the air between us as if even she couldn’t believe she’d said it. Her whole body tensed under my touch, as if she might bolt.
