Chapter Thirty-Two

Sugared lemons and salt water.

Larimar's scent still has the ability to undo me, even after all these years.

Though she definitely has other ways of undoing me as well.

I stare down at her, the intensity of my feelings rolling through me—love, hurt, lust. So much lust. My arms had been aching from being in chains for so long, but I don't feel any pain or discomfort anymore, not after what she just did to me.

She's staring up at me with fire in her eyes, though I can still see the pain there. She's furious at me, and I can't ever blame her for that. The last thing I expected was for her to do what she did. I know she didn't mean to make me come, that she was trying her own sinful brand of torture, but I didn't think she'd ever even touch me again.

But she did.

And that fire in her lavender eyes is also fueled by desire.

"What if I don't want you to defile me?" she says with a raise of her chin. "What if I want to set you out in that boat so you can drift forever?"

"Then I shall give it to you," I tell her. "But is that what you really want?"

I'm taking a risk here. I'm prepared for her stubbornness to kick in, the hurt I caused her to be lodged too deep. The mere sight of the scars on her legs makes me feel ill; I can't imagine how they make her feel. She might really want me gone from her life forever, and I will have no choice but to obey.

I told her I would hunt her down and find her, that she was forever mine, that she belonged to me, body and soul. But even I have my limits. Even I have to find the courage to let her go if that's what she truly wants.

Frankly, it's what she deserves.

And I deserve to suffer for all my sins.

It doesn't mean she won't stop belonging to me, though. She always will.

"I want…" she begins and then trails off, looking away. Then she shakes her head and closes her eyes. "I don't know what I want, Priest," she says softly.

"You want to hate me," I say.

She swallows hard, nodding.

"Part of you does hate me," I add.

She stops nodding, pressing her lips together into a thin line.

"But part of you still loves me," I say. "I know you do. Otherwise, you wouldn't still be here."

Another risk. I didn't even know that Larimar was in love with me when all hell broke loose. I certainly don't know if she loves me still. But if there's a chance…

Her eyes open, her lashes wet. Seems we're both in the mood to make each other cry.

"Why would I give my heart to a man who never gave me his?" she says, her voice breaking.

I breathe in deeply. "It's not that I didn't want to," I tell her. "It's that I didn't have a chance. We both realized we loved each other at the worst possible time."

She swallows. "You love me?"

I want to tell her that of course I do. My love for her is intertwined with my obsession with her. She has a hold on me, lives in my veins.

But how is she supposed to know that? I've never given her any sign of how I feel, other than when I'm buried deep inside her, making her see stars. I've never told her how I've felt; I've only hurt her in every way possible.

I suppose hanging naked from chains is as good of a time as any.

"You've had your Syren claws hooked in my heart from the moment I first laid eyes on you," I tell her, hoping she can feel the gravity in my voice, the weight of my soul being laid bare. "I've never been able to escape. I don't want to escape. Even if you don't love me anymore, my heart will belong to you until my undying day."

I swallow down the lump in my throat. "I love you, Larimar. I worship you, I sin for you, and I would die for you, only you. So, if you want me gone from you forever, I can give you that. I will give you whatever you ask for. Ask, and you shall receive."

Her lower lip trembles, but she squares her shoulders, trying to hold herself together. Perhaps if these chains weren't holding me up, I would be on the floor.

"I want your heart," she says.

"You have my heart, little fish."

"I want your love."

"You have my love."

"I want…"

"You have every broken, wicked piece of me, Larimar, and you have my good pieces too. All the dark and all the light. You have all of them together, but it's only you who will make me whole."

She stares at me, her chin wobbling, and a single tear rolls down her cheek, which she quickly brushes away with her fingers.

"Now, will you undo me from these damned chains?" I growl.

She lets out a ragged laugh and looks around the room, spotting the key hanging from the wall. I exhale loudly, relief flooding through me as she walks over to me and reaches up with the key, releasing me from my shackle.

I pull my arm down, the blood rushing back into it, prickling like a thousand needles, but once she's released me from the other chain, I waste no time.

I grab her face, one hand at the back of her neck, ignoring the fact that I can't feel my fingers properly. "I love you," I whisper, my heart hammering in my chest.

Then, I kiss her.

Soft at first, while feeling comes back into my body, savoring the velvet of her lips, the taste of citrus on her tongue. A mouth I had dreamed about for so long, one I never thought I would kiss again.

Then, my grip at the back of her neck tightens, and as my body comes back to life, my hunger for her returns.

I kiss her deeply as the moment washes over me.

That she's here, now, with me, and that I'll never let her go.

My tongue dips deep, unyielding, starving, our mouths opening against each other as all the tension inside is unleashed. She whimpers, her hands trying to grab me where she can—my biceps, my chest, running her nails down my back.

There is urgency thrumming through my veins now, and I waste no time taking what I want.

I break away from our kiss, our mouths wet, our breathing heavy, our eyes wild as we stare at each other, overcome with lust, with love, with hate, and everything else in-between.

Then, I pick her up in my arms. My ankles are still shackled and chained, but I have enough room to turn around and push her up against the wall. I quickly shove the end of her shift up as she wraps her legs around me, and I position my cock at her cunt. I intended to tease her with it, to wait, but need burns through me like a forest fire, and I quickly spear my cock inside her until the air is pushed from her lungs. She's so wet and warm that my eyes roll back in my head.

She gasps, holding onto my shoulders, her fingers briefly turning into claws, sharp enough to pierce my skin. Of course, the pain only makes me more insatiable.

"Fuck," I groan as I start rutting into her. She's so tight, tighter than I remember, and I need this, I need this so much. I think I might die before I see this version of heaven again.

"Larimar," I whisper, my lips at her neck, biting lightly, biting hard, drawing blood. I drink and I fuck and I feel everything, everything. So many years, decades, centuries, so many prayers I thought would never be answered, all culminating in this moment, in the apex of not just desire, but love.

I love her.

She loves me.

And I need to come inside her like there's no tomorrow.

I grunt, picking up the pace, my hips slamming into her as I drive deeper and deeper, as if I'm trying to embed myself in her soul.

She's so wet too, her own cries so sinful, so raw, mixing with the slick sounds of our urgent coupling. The wooden planks behind her creak and groan, adding to the symphony.

I reach down, feeling the swollen knot of her clit, and she lets out a ragged gasp as I start rubbing her in firm, quick circles.

"Such a good girl," I murmur, watching her face intently as her orgasm builds, seeing it in the pink flush on her fair cheeks, the dark swirl of her pupils, her shiny open mouth. I only break eye contact to stare down where my cock disappears inside of her, glistening with our desire. "Such a good girl with such a sweet cunt. Look at the way you take me, like you were made just for me."

Sometimes, I have to wonder if I did make her this way for me, so that we fit just right. Perhaps when I created the spell, I created the perfect woman, one who would be my final redemption.

But Larimar was perfect to begin with. Even if she stayed a Syren, I would have found God and all his devils inside her. I would have loved her with all of my dirty, wicked heart.

I would have found myself there.

Salvation.

"Can I make this better for you?" I whisper to her through a groan, my hips starting to move faster, harder, bruising her.

Her eyes widen in a look that says how could this get any better, but then I place my other hand at her throat and wrap my fingers around it.

"Trust me," I say to her, because I need her to trust me. I need her to believe that I would never want to hurt her. If she can submit to this, then she has nothing to fear.

She swallows hard, and I feel her throat bob against my palm.

I tighten my grip, slowly cutting off her air supply. Her gills won't work out of water. Her mouth opens, trying to breathe, the whites of her eyes showing around the violet.

"Trust me, little fish," I murmur, my cock still steadily thrusting in and out of her. "I won't do you harm. I just want you to submit."

I study her closely, looking for her consent.

It's there, in the barest nod.

I can't hide my smile as I squeeze her throat until she can't breathe.

Our eyes lock.

Good girl, I think.

Then, I circle my finger around her clit, wet and slippery and thick, giving her what she needs until she's coming.

Only then do I let her breathe again.

She gasps wildly for air, bucking against me as she comes, her cries bouncing off the wooden walls of the jail. Her cunt squeezes my cock so tight that I feel breathless too, and I fully let go.

With a couple of hard, final jabs, pushing myself as deep as I can go, I come with a strangled cry, cum spilling into her. My head goes back, my soul feeling like it's been torn out of me and put back together again. I feel flayed, exposed, barren, as if Larimar could look at my chest and see my ribs pulled back and my heart there, beating wildly and only for her.

Whether she sees it or not, her cunt milks me of every last drop until I collapse forward, my head resting against the wall, trying to catch my breath, trying to come back to Earth.

"Priest," Larimar whispers roughly, but that's all she says.

That's all she needs to say.

My name sounds like an answered prayer.

I take a moment before I pull out of her and lower her to the ground.

While she's panting, leaning back against the wall for support, I quickly bend down and grab the key from the floor to unlock the shackles at my feet. Then I glance at her legs, at my cum dripping down the insides of her thighs, mixing with her own.

I crawl over to her, the only time I'll ever crawl, and then I slide my tongue up her legs, savoring the taste of our unholy union. I run my mouth all the way up to her cunt and push the rest of it back inside with my tongue, causing her to give an involuntary squeeze, and I think she's getting aroused all over again.

I pull my mouth away, smiling softly to myself, then straighten up.

"In case you didn't notice, I'm not done with you yet."

Then I scoop her up in my arms, carry her across the room, and kick open the door, heading to my quarters completely in the buff. If Abe is there, he's getting kicked out, because I'm going to fuck the hell out of Larimar in my own bed.

And then, I'm finally, finally going to sleep.