Stars Above The Willow Tree

Chapter 20 - Doors, Corners, and Ceilings

Dethrhhek awoke, and everything was different. He felt changed in every way, though only one thing had changed. He looked down. Willow's backside was pressed against the length of his body, her skin on his skin, her scent in his nose. Her flesh glimmered with his wing dust and her hair was tangled across his pillow.

Something in his chest clenched up at the sight of her, this precious being, in his arms, covered with his dust. This was something most Tilith males might never experience in their lifetime. The warmth of a female...

He ran his knuckles over her shoulder and she hummed, lifting her head, eyes still closed. Her dark eyelashes fanned over the tops of her pink cheeks as she turned toward him. She rolled over and nestled against his chest and he felt warmth spread through him as he looked down at the sated, perfect female in his arms.

Since he'd plucked her from the pit, every time he'd caught her sleeping, she'd had a crease between her eyebrows. Even in sleep, her body had been tense, afraid. For the first time, peace relaxed and smoothed her features.

Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked a few times, looking up at him and he had to remind himself that though the room was full of light to him, to her eyes it would be rather dark. So he brightened himself just a little and he was rewarded with a sleepy smile.

"Mmm, hi," she said, her voice soft and slightly scratchy.

"Hello," he said back, running his knuckles down her flank and resting his hand on the swell of her hip. "Are you okay?"

She huffed and placed her hand over her lower belly with a slight grimace.

"I'm sore," she admitted.

"As you should be. After all, I am considerably larger than you."

She smiled and said, "I noticed."

"What do you need?" He asked softly, picking up her hand and rubbing her knuckles across his lips. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm starving. And thirsty. Do you have any water in here?"

"Of course I do," he said, though he loathed the idea of getting up and leaving her side.

"Oh, good. Where?" she asked, pushing herself up. She winced as she did, clearly in pain

He frowned and said, "Increase light."

The lights in the room brightened and he realized that her chest, right hip, hands, and belly were bruised a deep purple. It wasn't just his wing dust he'd seen on her flesh.

"Oh, by the pit I... I was too rough!" he said, guts twisting.

Willow snorted and shook her head. "You really think this was all you?" she said with a laugh. He had no idea how anyone could laugh being so bruised.

He just stared at her, confused.

"Did you already forget that I made out with a grenade last night?" she asked.

"You what? With a what?"

"I hugged a bomb, dummy," she said slowly, eyebrows raised over her forehead.

"Oh! Oh wow, female you obliterated my memory," he said, scrubbing a hand over his face with a groan. Until this moment he had remembered nothing from the previous day, nothing before walking into that stall.

He pushed himself up and said, "Stay there, I'll get your water."

Dethrhhek rolled off the bed and retrieved a bulb of water from a cabinet.

She drank the whole thing seconds after he placed it into her hands so he got her another.

He slipped into his jumpsuit and stared at her, alone in his bed, and he felt flutters go wild in his stomach.