Chapter 48: Mariah Carey - We Belong Together
Her fingers slid down his torso with nostalgia. They paused at his belt, unbuckling it as if she were unwrapping the past.
"There was a time," she said, almost laughing at herself, "I didn’t need to come begging. You used to show up with wine and a smile."
Damien gave a tight, bitter smile of his own. "That was before Luna," he said simply.
"Everything," she replied, unfastening the buckle, "was before Luna."
She met his eyes then, her pride bruised but still intact.
"If we do make an heir tonight, Damien... I promise. I won’t ask you for anything again. You won’t have to look at me like I’m a burden."
He looked down at her, this woman who had once shared his bed without expectation, without complication. And now she stood there, half-begging, half-bleeding dignity at his feet. Guilt twisted in his chest even as he navigated the fog of Luna’s face in his mind.
"Seliora," he murmured, almost apologetically.
She cut him off with a sad smile. "Don’t. Just... finish what you came for. Let’s both pretend it means something, if only to the kingdom."
There was no lust in the air.
Seliora kissed his neck.
Damien stood still, eyes distant, hands slack by his sides. Her lips were warm and familiar, but to him they were only shadows. In his mind’s eye, it wasn’t Seliora’s lips on his skin. It was Luna. The woman whose touch had carved itself into his soul, whose breathy moans still echoed in the corners of his memory.