Bonds that Burn and Bind

Chapter 6 Part 2

AN: Thank you for the 409 reads and 127 votes. Sorry for the late update.

WARNING This chapter contains explicit sexual content!!!!! I will be sectioning off the the sexual content with *******

My heartbeat roared in my ears as I slammed my head into my attacker's chin with a crack. They cursed and let go. I grabbed my knife from under my pillow and scrambled toward the foot of my bed. I turned back to where I was sure my attacker still lurked, pulling my feet and hands under myself until I crouched on all fours like a cougar, the knife I held acting as my claws. I paused, my eyes not adjusted to the inky darkness. From the head of the bed, the stirring of fabric gave away my assailant's location. My box spring groaned underneath me while I propelled myself forward.

I smacked into my attacker's muscled body, flattening them on my mattress. My box spring gave a louder groan of protest. But my assailant wiggled out from under me before I could press my knife to their throat.

Then I realized my assailant was saying something.

"Val, it's me. Stop, it's okay."

"Orin?" I breathed.

A mixture of both relief and utter dread, two emotions that shouldn't be able to exist so seamlessly together, filled every pore of my being.

I set my knife down on my bed stand and reached over and touched the round, glass fairy light embedded into the wall above it. It flickered on, casting the room in a soft golden glow. I took in a long breath before turning around. Orin sat pressed up against one of the posts at the end of my bed, his gray eyes blinking in the light. He had changed out of his clothes from earlier and into a black pair of pants and a shirt— clothing suited for melting into the shadows.

For a couple of seconds, we just stared at each other without speaking.  I broke our stare off by reaching up and grabbing my blue silk robe, hanging on the bedpost closest to me, and punching my arms through its sleeves.

"You were having a nightmare," Orin said, breaking the silence between us.

"What are you doing in my room?" I asked, using tying the front of my robe shut as an excuse not to look at him while I spoke.

"What the fuck do you mean what am I doing in your room? What the fuck are you doing in Dalmar?"

I looked up sharply. He leaned forward, anger and hurt in those gray eyes of his.

"You should go," I said. "Before anyone finds you here and assumes you've dishonored me."

Without a word, Orin rocked onto his hands and knees and crawled towards me. He brought his face close to mine as if he meant to kiss me. " Let's not pretend you have anything left to dishonor."

Despite not feeling I had the right to the emotion, a spark of anger lit in my chest. "Fine, I'll leave."

I sprang from my bed and hurried into my main room while Orin's footsteps followed. The full moon glowed brightly through the windows, and light tumbled in from the fairy light in my bedroom.

"Wait, Val, I should not have said something so stupid."

I flung the chair away from the door, and its wooden legs scraped painfully across the green  marble floor.  Before I could open it, Orin's hand appeared on the knob while he pressed his body against my back.

"It took me four months to figure out you were alive. Four fucking months, Val. I had no idea what happened to you," his voice shook, and he rested his forehead on my head.

I winced. " I'm sorry for worrying you."

"None of this makes sense," he mumbled into my hair. "We loved each other. I was going to marry you. You were going to be my queen."