Basilisk (Dark Ominis Gaunt x OC gothic romance)

Chapter 85: The Boiler Room

~~Marie~~

The plan had worked remarkably well, and so now their attention was turned toward the rat within their walls. Damien was good at finding the issues as they arose, but it was suspicious how frequent they were. They needed to find the target of the sabotage so that they could figure out what they were trying to do... but she had a feeling she already knew who. The servants didn't know who Damien or Sebastian were in relation to Ominis, only that they'd been hired by him and not his family.

But something else had shifted in the last few days as well... there was a strange tension that she felt when she was around Damien. It wasn't a bad tension, just... different.

She let her mind wander as she dusted some shelves, thinking back to when they'd first arrived back at the house. The obvious flirting, the way he spoke French to her with his dark eyes warm and hooded, the way he'd caught her when she'd tripped on that step...

His hands had been large against her waist, and his touch gentle. His touch was always gentle. The memory brought fluttering feelings within her, and she bit her lip gently at what that might mean.

It had been a long time since she'd felt any attraction for a man. It was something she thought she'd never feel again, yet here she was blushing at just the thought of him holding his hand against her lower back reassuringly. His touch soothed her, reassured her. She'd never thought she'd be able to feel that way with a man again.

But part of her was still scared, still uneasy. It was like a barrier she couldn't seem to get past, and it was so frustrating. She wanted to be normal... she wanted to be a woman a man would be comfortable around. Especially Damien and Ronan.

It was strange to think of them as the same person when they were really two different people. This whole relationship... if you could even call it that yet... was complex, difficult to navigate and delicate. He was so uneasy about touching her, as if he might break her. It made sense now that she had seen how strong he was. He had lifted a cast iron stove that easily weighed a thousand pounds like it had been little effort to him. Which meant he could lift her weight like a feather.

She shivered a bit at the idea, pressing her thighs together as her thoughts went rampant. Usually while she cleaned she could just let her mind go and idly work, but now her head couldn't seem to stop thinking.

It was startling how quickly her body was responding to him, considering all she'd been through. She certainly had had her fill of men in her life. Damien was different from them all, because he and Ronan truly cared for her wellbeing. That much was clear. She cared for him too, it certainly didn't sit well with her when he had that morose expression he sometimes had, or when he spoke badly of himself. She especially hated it when he used the word 'corrupted' as if he was some disease. It annoyed her. He couldn't help what he was.

Then again if she was going to try to... have a relationship with him... that was something to consider. His saliva would spread the curse to her- albeit to a lesser extent- and so he'd never be able to kiss her or bite her without 'contaminating' her. But Sebastian had been bitten, and he seemed perfectly fine. He'd said his instincts were heightened, but... perhaps she wouldn't mind that, if she was able to be comfortable. It would be miserable if she couldn't be intimate, though. It had to be a decision she made for herself.

She sighed softly, stopping her feather duster as she wondered if she was even capable of that. She didn't flinch at his touch anymore... and in fact felt better from it. But she hadn't dared touch him back besides the one time when confessing she wanted to try to be closer to him. Maybe that was a good next step, to see if she could take that leap into risky territory and see how she fared.