His Queen (18+)

Chapter XLVIII

THE OWNERSHIP

This love will be the death of me
But I know I'll die happily

***

CHAPTER XLVIII

*****

“WHAT'S THIS?” I asked Daniel as I squinted my eyes at the faint lines of what I assumed to be a tattoo I had never seen before peeking out from beneath his shirt.

“What's what?”

“This.” Carefully, I unbuttoned another button from his shirt before pushing the material back to reveal his chest so I could inspect his new tattoo.

As I analysed it, I realised it wasn't actually new; or at least, not brand new. By now, it seemed months old by how healed it appeared to be and how well the lines complimented his skin; as if it had been there since the beginning of time. It hadn't been very large either; it had been about the size of my palm for what it was and it had been done right over where I could feel his heart beating beneath my fingertips, overdrawing some of his older tattoos but he didn't seem to mind that.

The tattoo itself had been an intricate drawing of an alter — similar to the ones you'd see in large temples of some sorts adorned with sacrificial items and holy symbolism. Large wings sprouted out from the side of it and surrounding it were clouds in the sky. The meaning hadn't been lost on me in that moment.

The tattoo was a depiction of my name.

“Do you like it?” he asked me after a long minute of my silence, making me look up at him with a small smile stretching across my face. I wasn't sure how I kept my cool on the outside, but on the single, my heart was beating like crazy in my chest and breathing was becoming a difficult task. Slowly, I bit my lip and nodded my head in response to his question before going back to admiring the tattoo and tracing my fingers over the smooth, precise lines. “Do you want to see Mateo's?” he asked, making me meet his eyes again and eagerly nod my head.

Upon receiving my confirmation, he carefully sat up and undid the rest of his buttons before fully shrugging his shirt off his shoulders and turning around to lay on his stomach, presenting his back to me. Sitting beside him, I glazed my eyes over his back which seemed to be just as tattooed as his front when finally, my gaze had fallen on the one tattoo that seemed most likely to be dedicated to Teo.

It was on the exact same side my tattoo had been except on his back, right over his heart. The image presented here seemed to be a pair of divine hands reaching down from heaven with a small, beautifully wrapped gift in them. A gift from God. The meaning of Teo's full name.

“Did you think of these yourself?” I asked Daniel, making him hum as he turned onto his back again to look at me.

“I thought of the idea, I didn't design it,” he said softly as he took my hand in his and interlinked our fingers. This time, instead of lying, he sat up and rested against the headboard before grabbing me and placing me on his lap again. “I'm not artsy enough for that.”

“They're both incredibly beautiful,” I said softly as I traced all his other tattoos now displayed to me as well. Instinctively, my eyes sought out the two bullet wounds I knew he had on his body. One was on his shoulder, the other one was centered right in the middle of his chest. Both, he had survived and had tattooed flowers sprouting from the scar. Beautiful, intricately designed flowers with the smallest of details all tying in to make the final product as beautiful as it was; to make his suffering beautiful. “All your tattoos are beautiful.” At his silence, I slowly looked up to meet his gaze only to see that he was already looking at me which had made blood rush to my face as a smile stretched across my lips. “Do they all have a meaning?”