Amid Clouds and Bones

by Ella Fields

As with all faerie tales, the truth sat somewhere within the elaborately twisted dramatics.

“I want you. I want you as much as I loathe you—so much, it feels like I can’t breathe.” His parted lips dragged across my cheek, his whisper scathing near my ear. “Give me back my fucking breath.”

“I might not care for much of anything outside of my desires, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely heartless.” Her hand settled on my hip, and my clinical tone roughened. “That doesn’t mean I cannot love you.” I clasped her chin, my head lowering. “That doesn’t mean I don’t need you to be as obsessively in love with me as I am with you.”

Atakan was more than my mate—he was the edge I sharpened my armor upon and the safety I surrendered my softness to. I’d survived him because he’d allowed it. But I truly lived because I’d allowed him to prove he wasn’t heartless.