Shadow of the Heir

Two Sinners Can't Atone from a Lone Prayer

Note: There's sad sex in here. Best of luck, it's half the chapter.

Ella was sure she'd laid on him for an hour or more. Just to listen to his voice and hear him breathe. Maybe she'd manage to memorize it in the hours left between then and sunrise. Life would be less fragile one day, and she wondered if those little moments would matter as much. She wondered how long she had left to enjoy it.

Sebastian continued reading, and it seemed like he was oblivious to the misery of the night while he had his eyes on the book. She'd heard his voice break through a couple of the stanzas, but he was far from the sniffling mess she'd been earlier in the hour. Ella was sure her eyes were swollen and her head felt like it might split into two pieces. His hand on her head calmed it, even if he was just using it to keep the book from digging into her scalp.

She picked her head up to look at him and realized her neck had gone stiff from laying in one position for so long.

He moved the book away from her head and over his face when she readjusted. "Is all that we see or seem, but a dream within a dream?" Sebastian continued reading.

Ella was quite done with Poe. Nothing against him, but she might be dead tomorrow, and if this was her last night with Sebastian, then she wasn't going to spend the entire thing crying and listening to him read.

She pushed herself up on her hands, which made him glance down at the lack of her body weight. He looked torn. His expression seemed to teeter between curiosity and anxiousness. Ella wondered if he really hadn't wanted to be around her for the night if he was anxious. She didn't understand the worry. The darkness? Fine, give it to her. She wanted it back anyway.

The book still hovered over his face, balanced on the crease with his thumb and forefinger. He just blinked between her and the words on the page like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to stop reading.

Ella moved up, between his face and the book.

He still looked anxious, almost frozen as his gaze jumped around her face. "What did I tell you?"

He'd told her not to test his self control; she remembered.

"When do I ever really listen to you?"

"You are a frustrating woman." He mumbled. She heard the book hit the bed beside her, but she didn't look at it. She felt the hand he'd had on her head slide into her hair. Eyes on her lips. "It takes time for it to level out and—"

"I don't care, Seb." It made her grin.

"But I don't want to scare you. It's heavy."

"You? Scary?" Ella laughed under her breath. "The freckles really counteract mastering the Dark Arts."

He snorted. "I feel like I should be offended by that."

Ella rolled her eyes and leaned down to rub her nose against his. He probably should have been offended, but it didn't matter. He could learn how to raise the dead and she'd just skip behind him the whole way. His other hand ran up her back, under her blouse. She wanted to be the only person he touched for the rest of forever. "I'm contemplating murder."

"We're going to need to be more specific on that one, love, I have a long list."

"Rachel is hurting my feelings."

He sighed against her lips, and it sounded sad, but she felt that familiar crackle in the air. "What did she say?"

"That I'm—" Ella cut herself off with a shaky breath when his fingers dipped around to her side. "I'm marrying Ominis, so she doesn't have to worry about me with you, essentially."