Chapter 31

• [Primus]
• I scoop her into my arms, pulling her up to me so that our faces are at the same height. She feels so light, so small, and so very fragile. But there is nothing weak or timid about how she claims me with her body, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist as I push her up against the wall. We are both breathing quickly, the sound of her heart beating a rapid rhythm as I take a moment to marvel at her beauty. Her sunshine hair is tousled, coming free of her simple braid, the tightly curled strands floating around her. Her cheeks are freshly flushed as she blushes, darkening to a sweet berry brown as my eyes drink her in, her tan skin warming at my touch as I place gentle kisses along her chin.
• Smiling at my good fortune, I begin to kiss her neck, the hollow at her throat and as she gasps, I cannot imagine a world without the sound of her pleasure in my ears, the feeling of her skin beneath my fingertips. There are so many small things that could have happened to keep me from ever knowing her. What if the town had refused my offer? What if she hadn’t come stumbling into Crimson lost and alone, an easy target for their hate, and thus an easy sacrifice? If a dozen different things had happened differently, she would not be in my arms right now. She could have lived and died and experienced an entire lifetime without us ever meeting and without me ever knowing that this golden-eyed goddess was destined to be mine.