I stare down at Aurora’s defiant gaze, but I don’t see the façade she’s spent so long perfecting.
I don’t see her stand-offish reaction to me or how she challenges me like it’s her favourite sport.
Now, I see the girl who hid behind her sister’s dress. The girl who was innocent and then was tarnished so badly that she wished for a rebirth.
But she didn’t only wish for it. She made it happen.
Or so she thinks.
Even as a grown-up, there’s still a spark in Aurora’s eyes. Granted, it’s not the same as the brightness of that little girl’s. It’s almost like an update — a second version of sorts.
She thinks she’s had a rebirth, though.
That is fascinating.
People’s misconceptions about themselves or the world surrounding them is a form of weakness I latch onto without mercy.
But this one?
This one will be more interesting to explore. I’m going to dig my fingers into Aurora and unravel her thread by each tangled thread.
It started with my hand on her soft skin last night, and what soft skin it was. My cock twitches at the remembrance of my red handprint on her pale flesh and how she held on to me as her body proved to be the opposite of dead.
This will end with her falling at her knees in front of me.
Willingly. Without a fight.
“Have you paid your debts, Aurora?”
She straightens, her long, delicate throat turning rigid with the motion. A throat that will have my hand wrapped around it soon. “Debts?”
“Surely you know that even with rebirths, the current life carries the legacy of previous lives. It’s called karma. If you screwed someone over, you’ll pay in full during the following life.”
“You…you believe in rebirths?” Her full lips part. They’re still not red, but the pink colour coupled with the hitching of her breath sends energy straight to my groin.
My dick strains against the confines of my trousers, demanding to thrust inside that mouth and fuck those lips. Since he didn’t get his turn last night, it’s making him even more riled up.
Soon, though.
I’ll keep reviving that dead body and watch it fall apart by my own hands.
That’s my form of rebirth.
“You do,” I say. “I’m explaining it from your perspective.”
She lifts her chin, but it trembles as she speaks, “I’ve done nothing to pay for.”
Guilt. Fascinating again.
She feels guilty. But for what? For taking a stand? Does she regret being the reason she had to disappear?
Aurora Harper is nothing as she seems, and I’ll take my sweet time breaking her apart and peering inside that well-strapped armour.
“Dinner time.” I turn around and leave.
I need out of this room.
It should’ve been destroyed a long time ago, but I kept it as a reminder of what it feels like to lose.