SO WILL THE HAPPINESS  Her touch is like a release he hadn't known he was waiting for, that tremulous, careful caress filling him up, up, up. Until his eyes are shining and bright, bursting with life and energy. She is his, finally his - and he'd do anything to keep her. Reichenbach was about to say as much when another name is murmured against his mahogany skin - the name that still haunted him, through guilt or grief or honour he does not know. Aislinn. The very name brings forth the vision of her glacier cut eyes, the wildness of her storm blown skin. He waits, knowing that her next words will either fulfil him or condemn him. He knew about Bexley, too. Knew that his beautiful friend had captured Florentine's eager attentions once, that the bounce of her fat curls and the slender, stunning line of her body were not easy to dismiss. His eyes were intense on Florentine's face, willing her to meet his eyes, persuading her through the very force of his thunderous heartbeat. "She told me you loved me." It was a reprimand but also a quivering, tentative question. Reichenbach felt that familiar grin itch around his black lips, but the thought of her suffering and hurting heart kept it at bay. He watched her so closely, so lovingly, memorising every sweet line of her gentle face as if it might be the last time he saw it. He wanted to roar, to bellow to the starry skies that Florentine was his and no one else's. "What have we done?" Her eyes find the abyssal silver of his own, his long lashes lowering in something akin to fury, albeit gentler and cooler. Reichenbach bent his muscular neck, lowering his head so that they could be eye to eye as he said; "I love you Florentine, and I'll never apologise for that." He looked away suddenly, staring sightlessly toward the revelry as his mind whirred excitedly. There was no dampening the fire that had surged at the sight of Florentine, no controlling it. She strengthened and weakened him in a way he had not felt since Sparrow... all consuming, so much so that he could do nothing but follow what his heart desired. He looked back at his Dusk girl, plucking a flower from her hair gently; "We have something beautiful, it can't be damned... not in that way. Aislinn... Aislinn and dear Bexley will understand that." He grinned suddenly, tugging at the ends of her honeyed hair; "If not now, then someday." @ |
