The Touch of Salvation

36: Scarred Hands on Scarred Skin

Dirty dirty sweet fucking. beware of the lycanthrope cock.

ADALIND

"Adalind."

I look up from my work at Lux who has entered my bedroom. I am in my nightgown and Goliath is in the kitchen getting water. We usually share a room and a bed, now, although we never touch each other intimately.

He's never pushed and I never asked. He would hold me when I asked or sometimes I would wake up in his embrace, which I adored.  Tonight would be no different, except Lux usually never visited us.

I knew she had gone off from the palace during the labor to relieve herself of the pain. When she returned she had been upset, and I wondered how far the pain had crept down her throat before she left.

"Lux?"

"I'm telling you this because when he's happy, you're happy, and when you're happy things thrive."

"Telling me what?"

"His scars really affect him."

My brows furrow. "I know that."

"No, they impact him incredibly. He wouldn't touch the baby."

"Maybe he doesn't like kids," I respond.

"Ask him why he wouldn't touch her, and don't drop the subject." Lux shrugs before leaving and I sit down at my desk, thinking about what she has said. Goliath comes up minutes later. He sets two glasses of water on the side table.

The only way to prove his hands weren't dirty was to show them how magical they could be. My eyes go to those hands that seem so bare now without his rings. I realize that I had never asked him to rule beside me, nor had I established him as one of us. He was my mate. My soulmate.

"Goliath?"

"Yes, Daylight?"

My train of thought leaves me as he looks over at me. The sun graces his skin, curving around his white hair and chest which has been uncovered since he took off his shirt. His tattoos seem to be still, yet I know they have changed since yesterday. They climb up his rips, over his shoulders, down his arms, over his neck...there is some ocean of beautiful skin that is shone to me.

His nose is pointed, his jaw chiseled, his eyes deep and trained on me. He's beautiful, harshly beautiful - as if he were cut from stone.

He smiles at me. "You're staring."

"You're so handsome."

Another cheeky smile. "And you're stunning." He turns away, climbing into bed. He probably thinks that's the end of it; that nothing else could come from such a discussion. That I wouldn't want anything else. But those terribly scarred hands would feel so good against me and there was never a man I was more attracted to. I swallow.

"Why wouldn't you hold the baby today?"

He looks at me like he couldn't believe I noticed it at all. Like he thought I hadn't noticed. The annoying thing was, I hadn't noticed, and I realize just how much better I need to learn to pay attention to things.

His brows furrow. "You were so distracted with the baby, you were practically vibrating. You weren't focused on me. And you weren't there when Zielle asked. So how-" he sighs. "Lux, Daario, or Lucian?" His eyes rake down me. "Lux, then," he whispers.

"You can't possibly know that. I didn't say anything."

A grin spreads across his face. "You have a tell."