not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth.”
A sigh left me, and I breathed out her name, “Morana, is there nothing I can do, nothing I can say, to make this easier for you?” In other words, to help open her eyes. If she thought I would accept her decision to be with my brother, to let her walk to her own demise, she was wrong. I would fight for her. I would fight for her until the end.
The way she gazed up at me, the smile she wore right then… it made my heart skip a beat. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I just don’t know. Clearly, I’ve never done anything like this before.” She chuckled at that, and I grinned at her.
This girl… she had no idea the things she made me feel. I needed her to know how badly I wanted her, that I would do anything for her. Absolutely anything.
“Then let me speak,” I said, reaching for a hand, weaving my fingers through hers. She still felt warm, but I detected a slight chill to her, as if she’d spent too much time with Abner. “Let me tell you all about how you make me feel, Morana.”
She said nothing, gazing up at me expectantly.
“You are everything to me. I used to walk through life, perfectly content in being separate from everyone else, being invisible to any human who passed me by. I never wondered what it was like to have a family or someone to share your life with,” I told her. “I was perfectly fine with it all. I was content in watching over you, in sharing my blessing with you… but then you took your sister’s place, and I was faced with the fact that you would die at my brother’s side.”
Images popped up in my head, images I’d rather not think about. Morana with Abner, turned to ice beside his throne. It hurt to merely imagine her fate ending up like that; I could not pretend to know how I’d feel if it actually did happen, if she chose him instead of me and she died because of it.
I would Morana rather choose neither of us, let her walk free and return to her village, then let her choose Abner.
“I want you. You take up my mind each day and every night. I long to feel you in my bed, in my arms, your skin on mine, no space between us,” I went on, moving to hold her hand near my chest, as if I could force her to feel my rapidly-beating heart. “You make me want everything life has to offer, and more. You make me want it all.”
“Ishan,” she whispered my name, moving closer to me, her head tilted back so she could gaze up at me. Her hand looked pale in mine, the contrast between the colors of our flesh stark but beautiful.
My body burned with a heat I knew could only be put out by her, by feeling her, by having her as I so desperately craved. Still holding onto her hand, holding it against my chest, my other hand snaked around her lower back and held her against me. I felt her breathe in deeply at the gesture, and she did not push me away.
Abner had told me to go to her, but he did not tell me to keep myself from her.
Perhaps it wasn’t fair, perhaps it wasn’t right for me to even entertain the idea… but the mere thought of me leaving this room without taking that dress off Morana’s body and making her mine was akin to torture. I didn’t think I could do it.
I needed her. I needed her right this very second.
“Let me show you just how much you mean to me,” I said, stepping forward, forcing her to step back. I guided us to the bed, but I did not throw her down on it. It was where we shared our first kiss, when I first knew how delicious and addictive she was, where I’d learned I wanted so much more from her. Everything. I wanted everything from her, and then some. “Let me worship you instead.”
I was merely Summer. I might be a god, but I was nothing compared to her. Morana was beauty, fiery grace. She held a spirit that could not be contained by human society or their norms. She never would’ve fit in there, didn’t belong with them. She belonged with me; she always had.
Morana’s voice