Chapter 7: Chapter Seven

Genesis

~He was beautiful. Long brown hair cascaded past his shoulders—part of it was braided. Pieces fell by his perfectly sculpted face.~

~He smiled. His green eyes illuminated my whole world.~

~I reached for him, but each time my hands lifted, the burning was worse, so I learned to keep them behind me.~

~A sword was clasped in his right hand. He slid the blade across his left hand and held it in the air as blood dripped in slow motion onto the ground.~

~It was red until it touched the ground, turning into the same green I saw in his eyes. The green liquid seeped into the ground, nourishing it, causing grass and flowers to take root.~

~I gasped, reaching again.~

~The pain was too much.~

~He closed his eyes and cut again.~

~No! I tried yelling, but my voice simply didn’t exist.~

~He continued, letting his blood spill around his feet. Hours went by, or maybe it was minutes. Soon an entire forest grew around us. ~

~I sighed in relief as the shield of the trees shaded me from the sun. The heat dissipated.~

~Only to return when Ethan looked at me again.~

~He turned and, in an instant, was in front of me, his black shirt open midway to his muscled chest.~

~We were in our own forest.~

~It started to rain.~

~I turned my face up, welcoming the cold.~

~But the raindrops weren’t cold.~

~They were hot—searing hot.~

~The trees weren’t protecting me anymore. I reached for Ethan, but he moved back. My need for shelter outweighed my need for him.~

~The scene changed. And suddenly I was standing near a river; he was on the other side.~

~I wanted him—I wanted the water more.~

~I tried jumping in, but each time I made a movement toward the water instead of him, the pain was unbearable.~

~With a silent sob, I fell to my knees.~

~When I looked up, Ethan was standing over me; he’d somehow made it past the river.~

~“When it’s me you cry for— the pain ends.”~

~I shook my head, fighting his words.~

~Because they meant the end of me. I knew it in my soul. If I gave in to the heat, if I gave in to him, if I ignored my basic human needs— I wouldn’t be human anymore.~

~I would be fully reliant on a strange being who didn’t want me to begin with.~

~“Stop fighting it!” he roared.~

~I shook my head as heat consumed my body.~

~We were back in the throne room.~

~Cassius stood over me, his cold stare haunting. “And you still choose him? When I could give you relief?”~

~“Genesis, NO!” Ethan roared, but I couldn’t see him.~

~All I could see, all I could feel was relief in Cassius’s presence.~

~My body shook.~

~Cassius grinned, moving closer and closer to me.~

~The lesser of two evils.~

~Ethan.~

~I reared back; the heat got worse. I continued stepping backward until I was falling.~

~I landed in his arms.~

~His body was warm, not too hot, just warm enough to make me feel more comfortable.~

~“Genesis,” Ethan whispered, his mouth near my ear. “Don’t fight it.”~

~“Don’t…” I fought to get the words out. “Want. Me.”~

~His eyes flashed green, and then his mouth was on mine.~

~It was like ice.~

~And all I saw was him.~

~All I wanted was him.~

~All I could think about was him.~

~As our heartbeats and breathing synced in perfect cadence with one another, I tugged his head harder toward mine—greedy for his lips, needing so desperately to taste him I thought I’d die.~

With a cry, I jolted awake from the dream.

To find myself not in Mason’s arms—but Ethan’s.

Completely.

Naked.