“Ye are not well,” she said.
“I will be fine, my love. I will be fine.”
“What of the work ye are supposed to do?”
He shook his head slowly. “It is done. There was no calling for me beyond your delivery to the Maltorim. That is it for me.”
“Oh, Ethan,” she breathed, frowning. “‘ow could ye say such a thing?”
“I have failed even that, if you are here now. What happened?”
He had not failed. No matter what anyone said, they deserved the hope they found in each other’s company. “I am with them still! I am sure I can hold my place with them for many years.”
He pulled back. “You need to return immediately. You cannot stay here.”
“We are together,” Ophelia said fiercely. “Don’t tell me that is wrong.”
He stared at her a long moment, unspeaking, and she feared her chest might cave beneath the silence. “You should go. I shouldn’t have allowed this, shouldn’t have entertained these ideas.”
As he stepped away, Ophelia reached out and grasped his hand to tug him back. “Don’t ye dare say that.”
He was too close to her now to look at her as a package to be delivered. He could only look into her eyes. He could only face down her soul. Let him try to back away to that, let him try to back away from his own heart.
“Would ye still be standing here if this was not meant to be? Would not the Universe ‘ave taken ye from me?”
For a long moment, Ethan stared at her, his pained expression softening. Ophelia knew she was right, and surely he knew as well. The Universe would grant them this one gift in their otherwise dire existence. They would have each other.
Ethan lifted her onto the bed, climbing between her knees as he lay her back and pressed his mouth to hers. His hands, shaky and uncertain, fumbled to undo her dress. He swept her hair away from her neck, leaving it to fan out its inky blackness on his sheets.
He removed her gown, kissed her ribs, grazed his lips over her breasts. As he placed kisses along her jaw and neck, she tilted her head back.
Then, they were falling. Falling through time and space. But this was different from when Ethan had moved her this way before. This time they moved through space as though floating through water toward the bottom of a lake.
She kissed the space behind his ear, traced her lips against his shoulder. His hands explored her body, the fullness of her breasts, the contour of her hips, the insides of her thighs. As his fingertips traced over her hips, she closed her eyes. Soon she was lost in touch, in the way his fingertips brushed across her skin, lost in this space with him where no harm could come to them and no obstacle could prevent them from being together.
Ethan’s fingers dipped into her, gently exploring her depths and sending notes of arousal through her body. As Ethan entered her, pressing himself into her body, she gasped. His need swelled with an urgency, his breaths coming heavier. He slowed, stopped, pulled back before trying to press in again, more fully, until his hips pressed flush with her own. For Ophelia, the moment was a surrender, and she knew it was for Ethan as well.
When finally they lie still, Ethan whispered in her ear. “Are you all right?”
“I am,” she said.
He grinned widely. “Oh, Ophelia. I could die that I didn’t think of this sooner.”
The realization swept over her as well. Here, they were safe to be together. When moving through time and space—when they were here in the inbetween—time did not exist. She could spend days with him and still return to the Maltorim’s asylum within hours.
For all of Ethan’s ability, she could return to Maltorim minutes before she’d even left, if she so chose.
“I will not live without ye,” she said, pulling him closer.
“I will never ask it again,” he promised.
To no longer have to deny her feelings sent a rush through Ophelia, and in that moment, Ophelia’s heart fluttered in her chest. The heat between them intensified, and even the serpent’s mark on her neck burned once again with ferocity. But she didn’t care. Not now.
In these moments, she was human again.
Human, and very much in love.
If it were up to Ophelia, she would remain in his space, suspended for eternity with Ethan, her love, her sweetest downfall.
Rebecca Hamilton writes Paranormal Fantasy, Horror, and Literary Fiction. She lives in Florida with her husband and three kids, along with multiple writing personalities that range from morbid to literary. She enjoys dancing with her kids to television show theme songs and would love the beach if it weren’t for the sand. Having a child diagnosed with autism has inspired her to illuminate the world through the eyes of characters who see things differently.
To learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorder, please visit: http://www.autisticadvocacy.org
Rebecca Hamilton is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA.
http://www.beccahamiltonbooks.com
If you’d like to show additional support to the author, review this novel on www.Amazon.com or www.Goodreads.com.
COVER ART PHOTOGRAPHY:
Wojciech Zwoliński | http://dream-traveler.tk/
COVER ART MODEL:
Magdalena Sosinowska | http://ms-medea.deviantart.com/
FONT CREDITS:
Quicksand Book
Trajan Pro
Wicked Grit by http://ajpaglia.com/
Chicago House font by ‘theoriginal19’
FORMATTING:
R.P. Kraul
EDITING CREDITS:
Lynnette Labelle and R.P. Kraul.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
HER SWEETEST DOWNFALL (Paranormal Romance / Fantasy Novella) (Forever Girl Series - a Journal) Page 10