Chapter 84 #3
“Then you had no choice.” She pressed his cold hands against her skin. “Ed’un couldn’t have stayed.”
He blinked, clearing the blue haze of tears from his eyes. “I talk to you—in my dreams. All the time. But now…you’re still here. I’m touching you.”
“Yeah,” Nora said, her voice shaky. She smiled for him, grasping his hands so he’d never let go. “So are you.”
In the depths of a daze that couldn’t have been only exhaustion, Airik sank to his knees before her. He moaned, weaving his fingers into her short hair. “My light. Cheranna. I don’t care if this is a dream or death—let it last forever.”
His fingers swept her from the tip of her head down to her toes, leaving kisses where the skin was bare. “This is what saved your life,” he said, fingers tracing her shoulder just below where the port attached to her neck.
“No, you did,” Nora corrected. She gently caught his bandaged hand, making sure not to press too hard. “What happened?”
“I…” He paused. “I was not sure if you’d come back to me.” He touched the edge of his hand to his lips. “I made it so the marks you gifted me would never, ever fade from my life.”
Her heart felt like it swelled three sizes. “And…your arm?”
Airik pressed close to her chest, turning his ear to her heart.
“Lucky is with us, but…he didn’t know me when he woke.
Our good boy was a weapon—like me. He’s scared.
In a place that is new with nothing in his control.
He…I don’t think he knew me. But I am okay.
” His arms wrapped around her back, holding her tight.
“I won’t tell you not to worry for him—I know you will.
But remember, I told you—no one can stop loving you.
He is not different. When you see him, his mind will heal. I know it will.”
Nora nodded, swallowing her tears. “And…Torren?”
“He’s here. Not dead.” He squeezed her, and for the first time since she’d woken, the floating sensation around her ceased, and the world around her became solid. Airik stayed still until his breathing evened out. “But he’s also not alive. Asleep in the chamber.”
When he looked up at her, Nora couldn’t hold back her sobs. They had survived. Together. There was time and the promise that tomorrow could be better.
Everything still hurt, and she was under no delusion that what tied them together wouldn’t feel suffocating at times. But she was still thankful for it. They could endure this. They would be okay.
She ran her fingers through his hair, kissing all over his face, trying to replace the terrible things he’d endured while he’d waited with her touch.
“More,” he cried, then captured her lips in a searing kiss. It filled her with strength and a heat that penetrated her muscles and reached her bones. He held her tightly, just as possessively as he had on Ed’un. If he had treated her like a broken thing, she might have died right here in his arms.
But he knew her. What she needed. How to love her hard enough to break beliefs that had almost killed her.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Yours. Yours. Yours.
Finally, after a long while, they pulled apart. The glow of Airik’s eyes sparked again as he stood, gathering Nora’s legs and tucking her back into the bed. He spoke to her in a soft voice. “I am tired, demon eyes. I want to sleep.”
Something about how he carefully arranged the pillows behind her, then brushed the hair out of her eyes, triggered a strange, almost memory.
“I had a weird dream,” she blurted. She looked around the room, stunned, searching for evidence of what had just compelled her to utter the words.
“Tell me.” Airik sat on the edge of the bed, kicking off his boots.
She hesitated, suddenly feeling foolish and shy. He lay beside her, his legs hanging off the end of the bed. When she didn’t reply, Airik looked up at her, tired but with a curious expression. There was no way she could deny him.
“I…dreamed of…angels. Real ones. I can’t remember what they said or how they looked, except that one was a woman with green eyes and the other was a man with marks all over his face and hands.
Like writing.” Nora laughed, glancing down at her own hands.
“He seemed…kind of like an asshole. Can you imagine that? An angelic asshole?”
“Green eyes?” Airik whispered. “And…writing on the man’s face?” His eyes shimmered with tears.
Nora tilted her head, drawing him closer to her with a finger under his chin. “Yeah, but I don’t remember much else.” She wiped his tears only to watch fresh ones well up. “What’s wrong?”
He blinked, freeing a tear to slide down his cheek. “Nothing, my light.” A faint smile formed on his lips. “Tell me more of your dream. Please.” He shifted, settling his body between her legs, his head resting on her chest. “I want to fall asleep listening to your life and your words.”
She laughed, pulling the sheets over them. “You want to hear more about my trip to heaven?”
“Not heaven,” Airik said. His breath warmed the spot over her heart. “Maybe a look at forever. But…” He turned to kiss the center of her chest. “Heaven is here. I’m in it with you.”