The Heartwood Box: A Fairy Tale (34 page)

S
he
realized
her
hands and legs were unbound
—
he’d stopped
.
There was nothing but his hand rubbing the back of h
er neck almost…  affectionately
and the harsh sound of his breathing
.

Then
Derek
let out a loud curse, and a bunch of things happened
.
He pushed her onto the cot on her side and then piled blankets onto her until she was weighted down
.
Not sat
isfied, he yanked her dress off
and pulled her against his bare chest, rubbing her arms, blowing under the blankets
.
His skin was so hot it burned hers
.
He must have a fever
.
It was only then that she realized her teeth were chattering
.

“Damn it, Genevieve!  Why didn’t you stop me?” 

The question struck her as silly: he was the one who’d pounded the power of lucid thought from her
.

“Do you still want the promise?”  She’d meant to sound arch, but her words slurred so much she sounded drunk
.
“Fine,” she giggled
.
“I promise
—
I won’t ever leave without permission
.
Is that what you want?”  When he said nothing, she whispered, “Derek?” 

Still nothing
.

Right now the pain was muffled and distant, but in a very short time, it would utterly take over
.
What was she to do with it
?
Was he really going to leave her alone with it
?

Suddenly her beautiful blossoming vine was seized by a toxic, stinking blight of fear
.

“Derek,” she screamed again
.
“You really do hate me, don’t you
?
”

He clutched her tightly
.
“Genevieve, angel, hush
.
Never say that.”

“You do
,”
s
he rasped, her mouth dry
.
“I thought you wanted it
.
Gods!
I never meant to make you so angry!” 

“Genevieve
,
stop!”  He shook her
.
“I
—
I could never hate you
.
You are so beautiful to me
—
so precious
.
I have never desired any woman like I d
esire you
.
Y
ou provoke me to madness!  Don’t cry, angel.” 

He began kissing her eyes, her forehead
, her neck
.
W
hen
his lips
touched
her
s
, she
instinctively opened her mouth
and reached for him with her tongue
.
She could feel the shudder
ripple
through his body
.
He gripped her harder and plunged his
tongue in
.

He wasn’t wearing a shirt
so
the
blistering heat of
his chest
burned
against her breasts, causing her to arch back
.
His
rigid
arousal throbbed against her, maddening her with lust
.
The pleasure was too intense
.
I
t muffled the pain for now, and she instinctively grabbed at it, pushing her hi
ps against his desperately.

“Angel
…
.
If you do that…
.
Gods, Genevieve, forgive me.” 

Sudde
nly Derek shifted her body down
and lifted her right leg, resting it on his hip
.
A moment later he slid inside her
.

“Stay with me, angel, l
et me help you,” he said
,
and then he began thrusting
.

It took mere seconds for her to climax
violently
.
But instead of peaking and
waning, the orgasm didn’t fade
.
I
t made a mocking little dip and immediately began to build again
.

It was too much
.
“No
t again
, Derek, I can’t
,
”
she pleaded.

“You took the pain, you will take this,” he growled
.

“
No, I can’t, please
,” she wailed
, trying to push away from him
.

“
You can
.” 

He
gripped her hair and yanked her head back, kissing her throat, all the time
pumping
urgently into her
.
Though she fought it, the tension was building inexorably, and to her addled mind, her unwillingness only added to the intensity
.

“Now angel, come again for me,” he ordered savagely
.

The
second
climax struck sharp and invasive
—
glittering shards of
pleasurable
pain like broken glass
.
Derek kept pace with her, driving into her convulsively, until he let out one short grunt that managed to hold a lifetime’s worth of desire in it
.

The tears came the moment he stopped moving
.
First as a gentle rain, but quickly building to
a storm of
hoarse, wracking shudders
.
Derek
gripped her, kissing her, murmuring words that soothed but conveyed no meaning to her at all
.
The door that held back the pain was suddenly ripped from its hinges, and the teasing trickle exploded into a raging river
.

For the moment it drove everything else before it, but she was forgetting something crucial and when she remembered it
,
this river of pain would be nothing to the ocean that would drown her
.

Genevieve sank afterwards into a strange oblivion where the pain left everything, even itself, vague and indistinct
.
Her only anchor to solid reality was Derek
.
If he’d left her alone, she might have floated off into some inaccessible place of pure anguish, but he never left her, never moved except for the gentle rhythm of his breathing, the caress of his hand on her head, with occasional gentle kisses on her forehead
.
Her brain
latched
on
to
his scent of bracing cedar mixed with a hint of homely nutmeg—how fitting that Derek would smell like winter
.

She felt nothing but affection for him
,
except
at
one point when he tried to g
et her to drink something cold
.
A
ny motion was painful and she slapped feebly at him
.

Seconds, minutes, hours
—
she’d no clue how much time passed unt
il something interrupted them,
which she vaguely recognized was catastrophic
.

A cheerful voice from up in the darkness called down
,
“You two killed each other yet?”  It was Donal
.
“If you haven’t then it’s safe to come up
.
Damian obliterated
the
R
eavers
!
 
I knew he was good, but this was bloody genius
.
They won’t bounce back from this any time soon
.
Derek, if
you
had
seen him
, I swear
…
.
”

Genevieve couldn’t listen to anything more about Damian’s victory
.
It was
all she could do
to keep from shattering
.
She
remained passive as Derek carefully sat her up, pulled her dress over her head, and put her
stockings and
boots
on
.
His face was grim, even more than usual, but he was infinitely gentle as he helped her stand and guided her over to the ladder
.
Walking was difficult
,
but somehow she managed to li
ft one leg up to the first rung
and then push to
bring her second leg up
.

A
fter that
,
the pain caught up
with her
again, and it was excruciating
.
She began shaking and sweating, worried she might be sick
.
She couldn’t imagine how she could possibly
climb
another rung
.

Derek nuzzled her back gently
.
“
L
et me help you, angel
—
stay still.” 

He lifted her by the underarms
,
raising
her two more rungs, and then climbed up behind her
.
Lifting
her without the floor to give him leverage
proved
far trickier
.
He wrappe
d his left arm around her waist
and pulled himself up another rung
.
But unlike her underarms, the pressure on her waist pulled directly at the welts, and she cried out
.
Derek quickly pushed her up four more rungs, realizing there was no way to do this without causing her agony
.

When they were close to the top, he called up, “You must pull her up
—
she’s hurt.” 

Arms reached for her, easily lifting her out into blinding
sunshine
.
Genevieve
could do nothing but stand there, clutching her sides, trying to will herself to think clearly again
.
Suddenly someone was moving rapidly, threateningly towards her
,
and she instinctively shrank
.
Damian was before her, gripping her chin hard
.
She closed her eyes, trying to push away the piece of information that had gotten lost in the pain
.
He
g
ripped her shoulder to turn her
and then yanked up the back of
her dress.

And then he
let out a roar of rage
and launched himself at Derek
.

Genevieve had once seen two mastiffs attack each other
.
The dogs had fought so savagely, the helpless humans watching could do nothing to stop the battle until one was dead, the other mor
t
ally wounded
.

Derek and Damian’s fight was every bit as ferocious
.
Damian
looked
insane with rage, while Derek
appeared
almost feral
.
Though they fought without weapons, their clash was so fast and violent, it was more than her brain could handle
.
She fell to her knees and let out a keening wail, tearing her hair
.
Breathing became difficult
.

Before she fell over, strong arms gripped her
—
Donal again! 

He
nuzzled
her cheek
.
“Genevieve, stay with me, sweetheart
.
Please, it’s not your fault
.
Declan is here, he’ll sort this out.” 

Declan! 

She
let out a piercing shriek
.
H
e would kill her
;
he should kill her
.
She’d destroyed his family
.
Stars seemed to cascade over her vision
,
and everything went dim
.