novelxo Chapter 0203
Chapter 0203
"Of course I mind that you killed my dear friend," I said softly, carefully keeping any hints of anger or hatred from creeping into my dulcet tone. I was the very picture of a woman deeply in love, speaking painful truths to her beloved. "But Lucas was already gravely ill anyway, even without your involvement he wouldn't have had much longer to live. Maybe you even did him a mercy of sorts by ending his suffering sooner. He was in so much constant pain and torment from all those illnesses that kept attacking his body...
I shrugged one shoulder lightly, as if his death truly didn't trouble me anymore. "Besides, I can't actually bring myself to resent the man my heart beats for now. My greatest wish was simply to be with the person I love more than anything. I believe Lucas wouldn't blame me for that...or you, since you ended his agony."
After a prolonged moment spent digesting the meaning behind my carefully crafted words, Dylan tilted his head back to gaze intently up at me. "I don't believe you," he stated bluntly, a flicker of dark emotion passing through his mercurial eyes. "I'm starting to worry that every time you go visit his grave, your love for me will only diminish further while your hatred deepens. Maybe one day you'll even try to kill me out of vengeance."
Though I remained outwardly impassive, showing no signs of the turbulence those words created within me, I'll admit I was somewhat taken aback that he had so baldly voiced the very kernel of my actual plan out loud like that. Though I knew logically it was just another childish attempt to rattle me, another dumb test devised to flush out any nefarious intent on my part. Well, two could play at that game.
"He's a dead man, Dylan," I sighed out in apparent exasperation, as if his worries were ridiculous and unfounded. "My love for you can never possibly diminish now that you've claimed me so thoroughly. No, I will not kill you if you die, then I die as well, for you are the very air I breathe."
I watched keenly as his brow furrowed, the muscle in his chiseled jaw twitching as he silently appraised me. His eyes dropped to my mouth, his fingers following the same path until they came to rest featherlight against the plush swell of my lower lip.
Lifting his gaze back to lock with my own, he rasped out in a gravelly tone, "I still don't fully believe you, Sydney."
A spark of calculated daring flickered to life in my belly as I stared back at him boldly. "Then if you don't believe the depth of my eternal devotion, just kill me now," I stated evenly, a hint of challenge tempering my words. "I'm more than willing to die by your hand in this moment, but I absolutely cannot tolerate you doubting the boundless love I hold for you any longer.
He shook his head slowly, his thumb tracing the seam of my lips with atypical gentleness. "I won't kill you, Sydney," he murmured, that undercurrent of quiet menace still present in his tone. I noticed his specific -choice of words - 'won't' rather than 'can't."
His touch drifted to cup the side of my face, almost tenderly. "I'm just...worried that maybe one day, you simply won't love me anymore," he confessed in a low, hoarse rasp that somehow sounded smaller than I had ever heard from him before, naked vulnerability seeping into the words like a hairline crack in his granite facade.
My own eyes prickled treacherously with the sting of unshed tears at the naked emotionality in his tone as I met his stormy gaze with one of tender reassurance, leaning down to brush my lips softly against his once, twice.
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Chapter 0203
+25 BONUS
"There will never be such a day," I vowed in a throaty murmur, cradling his face between my palms as I spoke with beseeching fervor. "I love you so completely, so consumingly, that the very notion of living without you would render my life meaningless. I exist only for you now, Dylan. I lay myself bare before you because I want you to claim me, possess me utterly. Shout to the entire world that I belong to you and no one else!"