Page 112 of The Hunted

Even the white, flowy gown made of soft satin with yards of chiffon blowing out the skirts was stained with the purple hue from the sky. Standing in front of the farthest wall in the solarium, she stared up and watched the clouds roll by faster than she knew was normal. It meant another storm would soon be coming in, and in a blink, the wash of purple would be gone. Replaced instead by the blackness of the rain and wind.

Arelle sighed, ignoring the noise from the house behind her. She’d left the doors to the solarium open just because she wanted Eryx to find her easier when he was finished throwing around his orders to the servants. Moving an entire house—or rather, what items he wanted saved from the House of Miller—had been quite an event in a short amount of time.

Tiring, really.

Now, the estate bustled with activity to move and place whatever needed to come inside from the caravan of carriages before the rain and wind started from the next storm. She could have helped, or even watched from afar, but she was missing the sea.

Again.

Now more so than before.

Maybe it was because she could taste it in the air.

Or simply because it was so far away.

What did it matter?

Whatever the reasons, the heaviness in her chest wouldn’t leave. And that was difficult enough for her.

The click of a door had her tense posture softening slightly. She didn’t need to turn around to know who it was—she could feel him.

“You look as though you’re bathed in purple.”

She smiled at the reflection of herself in the glass. “Do I?”

“You do,” Eryx murmured.

His footsteps against the stone tiles approached her spot, but Arelle still didn’t turn away from the glass.

“Shame,” he said, his voice close enough that the small hairs on the back of her neck raised at his proximity, “that you look as you do, but all you feel is sadness standing here. Why is that?”

The unspoken parts of the bond left nothing to question between them, even when one of them wished for it to be different. From the emotions to sometimes, even the thoughts in their own minds.

Nothing was secret.

It all depended on what was needed.

“Did you know,” she said when he slipped in behind her with one of his arms wrapping around her shoulder and chest, “that my kind believe we’re cursed?”

“Oh?”

He pulled her closer; her back molded to the hardness of his chest, and for a second, she could breathe easier. She shouldn’t. Not with this man who promised to take her life, and as it was, had already taken everything else from her and changed the very world as she knew it. Even the way he fucked her was raw and brutal with little softness or care involved … although, she found that was exactly how she liked it anyway. Still, she shouldn’t find a sense of peace in the arms of a man who had only seemed to want to hurt her. Yet, she did.

“Why that idea?” Eryx asked.

His lips grazed the back of her neck, making her shiver while his one hand cupped her breasts through her dress, and his other slipped down to fist into the skirt of her dress.

“We’re designed to need the land to carry on the legacy, but to be desperate for the sea because that is where we are most natural. It wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but when one is taken away, we crave it more than ever.”

“Mmm, like the land now.”

Arelle let out a shaky breath when he finally managed to get her skirts high enough that his hand could slip in beneath the heavy fabric. His fingers stilled when they slipped over the thin, delicate lace between her thighs.

“What is this?”

A breathless laugh escaped her. “We’re having a conversation. Ignore what’s under my gown.”

“No. I closed the door so I could come to fuck you without interruption, actually. I find that there’s anything under here at all but your skin very interesting. Besides, you’ve been quiet the last couple of days.”